Tooth and Claw
by LilithBrandon
Summary: Bella says no to Edward's marriage proposal right before the newborn army battle, and that one decision warps the future for her and the Cullen family into something none of them were prepared for. Not your typical Mate story. Bella/Jasper. No canon rehash.
1. Chapter 1

Author Note: This story is already several chapters along so there won't be a problem with abandonment. This is not a crossover, but I am using a single element of another media to introduce Bella's new predicament. So you might recognize it when the time comes. You don't have to know anything about the element since I explain what needs to be known within the story. I'm trying to keep this as true to the canon characters as I can, but obviously Bella is going to be OOC because of the change. There isn't any character bashing and as of 50,000 words there are no lemons. Twilight is owned by Stephine. If you absolutly have to know what the element is that I'm using, it's owned by Marvel Comics and it's X-23's mutation. That's it, nothing else from the Marvel universe. They're comics and movies in this universe, like in real life.

**Chapter 1**

"Hang on, Bella. We're almost there."

Seth Clearwater had his fingers pressed firmly against the side of my neck vainly trying his best to stop the flow of blood. Being carried bridal style while being rushed to the Cullen home wasn't the most comfortable of positions. I kept my eyes closed against the constant flashes of light, the sun doing its level best to break the canopy of the Olympic Rainforest. It was giving me a headache. With the accompanying pain in my neck and the broken arm I was cradling, let's say that I wasn't in the best of condition.

Victoria's newborn army was dead. She and her chosen second, Riley, were burning on the lee side of a random mountain where Seth and I were hiding out from the danger. I blame Edward for this. If only he would have stayed with me like I asked, or even let Jacob stay to watch over me then none of this would have happened.

Considering his size, Seth did the best he could. Riley was no hard task. With Jasper's training, my young wolf guardian ripped his head off with one leap, leaving only the psychotic redhead to deal with. Ten minutes later and I was lying on the ground with my arm broken from Victoria's grasp, and my neck cut from her razor sharp nails. It was a last ditch effort to kill me since Seth had her by the neck, pulling her away from me. She knew she was done for and didn't want to be dragged down to Hell without dispatching me in the process.

I lost consciousness somewhere along the way and only came back to awareness when I felt cold hands pressing down on my chest.

"I hear a heartbeat!" Alice's voice was one I immediately recognized.

"Bite her already!" an angry Seth snarled.

Jacob seemed to be there as well. "Seth, get out!"

"No, you two should have been there. She begged you! I'm not leaving her."

"Boys!"

Carlisle was rarely one to raise his voice even in tense situations, but these were werewolves we were talking about. You pretty much have to yell just to be heard. I was seriously groggy, but aware enough to see him lean over me with a tense but compassionate look on his face.

"Bella, there's been a complication and I won't proceed without your consent."

I blinked and tried to focus on what he was saying.

"Seth's blood has been introduced into your body. It was only a small amount, but from what I know of our interactions with each other, it could prove fatal when encountering vampire venom. We've already had to revive you once with CPR. Any attempt to move you to the hospital will also prove fatal. Knowing this, do you want me to attempt the change?"

Even in my half-conscious state I thought he was crazy for asking.

"Just bite me already," I whispered.

"Yes!" Seth nearly yelled out. "Take that, bitches!"

~O~

When the Cullens spoke to me about the burning of the change I thought it was a metaphor or perhaps that it was the result of a high fever. No. The burning was like someone tapped veins all over my body and inserted a hydrochloric acid drip that lasted three days. I could have sworn on any holy book you set before me that I thought my body had been submerged in the stuff and then set over an active volcano to slow roast. These examples pale in comparison to what the venom did to me, so it's useless to explain it anymore.

After the burning eased I could already tell things were different. I still wasn't able to move, but I could hear things a hundred times better, and smell things a thousand times stronger. My body ached bone deep, throbbing in time to the sound of my heart, and there I lay for what seemed like forever.

"We can't wait any longer," I heard Carlisle say.

I heard a door close and the sound of Jasper's voice. "Go. Bella will be safe with me. Her new scent has no effect. We'll be fine."

"If you're sure."

An exaggerated sigh sounded. "Carlisle, I have dealt with more than my fair share of newborns in my time. I have no idea why it's taking so long, but Bella still isn't exhibiting any signs of the final change. Odds are that she'll be in the same condition by the time y'all make it back."

"Very well. We will see you in three days then. Call if there's any change in her condition."

"I will. Have a good hunt."

The sound of a door closing and a car engine starting surprised me. It was as if it was in the next room. After the car faded off in the distance I could still hear Jasper puttering around in a different room, closer to me. Paper tore and I recognized the resonance of a hard covered book binding cracking nearly echoed in my head. It was a sound that I was quite familiar with in all my time spent in libraries over the years. Jasper was reading a book.

His footsteps closed on the room I was in and paused at the door. I could smell the presence of worn leather and some cologne that I was familiar with. I don't know all the different scents there are in the world like the Cullens and the wolf pack seemed to. They could pick out flowers and spices like they could see them right there. I just knew what leather smelled like.

"It's time to wake up, Bella."

I was awake. I just couldn't move.

"I can feel your frustration. We're going on fifteen days and this is the first time I've felt anything but agony from you. Granted, I've been off hunting for the past couple of days, but still."

My fingers tingled from where he touched me, maneuvering my hand in his.

"You're still warm, almost hot. Carlisle thinks it's because of the wolf's blood. Your heartbeat is stronger than I've ever heard it, and your blood no longer calls to any of us. It's different, but not in a bad way."

Hearing him sniff at my hand was odd, but the feel of his cool lips on my fingers sent a little surge down my spine. It wasn't anything inappropriate; they just seem to touch when he smelled me.

"You're all healed up… your arm I mean, and where she cut you on your throat. There's not even a scar."

For some reason, it was right then that my eyes fluttered open.

"Ah, Sleeping Beauty finally wakens."

I gripped his hand tightly and Jasper's face lit up in shock.

"You're strong."

"Jasper?"

He nodded and grabbed my other hand. "Can you sit up?"

Letting my muscles go limp wasn't very difficult, because I was already pretty much there. Jasper tugged me into a sitting position and then let go of my hands one at a time until I was under my own power.

"How do you feel?"

I shook my head slightly and then looked around the room. "Thirsty… hungry."

The room, Jasper, the world all looked like I had switched from analog to high definition. Everything was simply much clearer and sharper, so I was easily distracted. When my eyes found his I noted his intensity.

"What are you thirsty for, Bella?"

Oh, I suppose that is a good question considering what I went through. Vampires drink blood, obviously.

"Wait… my heart's beating." Something seriously didn't go right with the change. "It didn't work?"

Holding his hands out for mine he nodded to them. "Here, let's get you on your own two feet and downstairs. We'll try some water first."

"Jasper," I snapped. "What happened? Why am I not a vampire? Was it Seth's blood?"

He sighed. "Probably a mixture of your own blood loss and the introduction of his along with my venom…"

I blinked, shocked. "You bit me?"

"No, nobody did the biting." He paused for a long moment before seeing that I expected an explanation. "We've all known of Edward's reluctance in turning you. Alice had one of her visions this summer and thought it best if I were to start saving up my venom just in case Edward couldn't go through with it. That way you could do it yourself and he couldn't whine about someone else being your sire. Carlisle injected that into your heart to help speed things along since it would be a lot more than you'd receive from a regular bite. We thought it would stand a better chance of overpowering the wolf blood. Obviously, it didn't work."

Edward chickened out. "Oh." Figures.

"Now, let's get you downstairs and find out what you're thirsty for."

It was then that I realized that I wasn't wearing my jeans and sweatshirt that I had on for the day of the battle. Instead I was wearing this ugly blue dress.

Jasper chuckled when he saw where my attention drifted.

"Alice," I said with a small growl. "She finally got me into a dress."

"She left you some other clothes in our room. Drink first. If you have any newborn tendencies then that will help keep your anger at bay."

He was probably right. Taking his hand I hopped down off the hospital bed without any effort or stumbling. That was probably a first. Jasper led me downstairs and into the kitchen without releasing me the entire way. It was kind of odd that I didn't feel weird about hold his hand. I mean I have been Edward's for so long I would think I'd be blushing or feel like I'm betraying my boyfriend, but I didn't. Besides, Jasper had Alice. It wasn't like he was going to dump her for homely old Bella Swan.

When we got to the kitchen he opened the refrigerator and grabbed one of many bottled waters that Esme always had on hand for me, and twisted off the top before handing it over.

"Just sip it first," Jasper warned. "If it tastes off then spit it into the sink."

Steeling myself, I took the tiniest of sips and let it settle for a few seconds. Nothing seemed odd about it other than greatly relieving my dry mouth. Then I took a big gulp, swished it around and swallowed.

"It's fine," I said before chugging half the bottle.

My stomach immediately grumbled and I paused thinking that it was going to explode or something.

"You haven't eaten anything for over two weeks. What are you hungry for?"

Honestly, I thought I could eat a large horse, but my stomach probably had shrunken considerably. I was kind of surprised I had as much energy as I did. When I was younger, I was laid up in the hospital for a strep infection for almost ten days. I lost fifteen pounds and couldn't eat more than half a bowl of soup when I got out.

"Meat."

Jasper nodded and opened the refrigerator again. "We have sandwich meat…"

"No," I said and stepped up next to him. "Something more… beef."

I spotted one of several packages of steaks that Esme kept for the wolves when they came by. I grabbed the first one on top which turned out to be a New York Strip steak. My nails ripped through the packaging like it wasn't even there, but I stopped myself from taking the meat and shoving it in my mouth like some kind of animal. My eyes widened and I wasn't surprised to see Jaspers just as enlarged.

Without waiting, I grabbed the first pan I saw hanging over the stove and dropped the meat on top.

"You were about to eat that raw."

"No I wasn't."

He looked at me like I was blatantly lying. "Yes, you were. Vampires have perfect recall, Bella, and let me take a moment to recall… yes. Yes you were inches away from putting a raw steak into your mouth before you looked up at me and decided that would be a bad idea."

I frowned at him. "There's no need to be sarcastic. I thought you were supposed to be some sort of super southern gentleman with a flying red cowboy hat or something."

Jasper raised a single eyebrow at me, but didn't say anything so I grabbed a fork from the drawer and flipped my steak over. A single minute was more than enough time to cook that side, right? The steak was just an inch or so thick. That was probably more than enough time.

Grabbing a plate from the cupboard, I set it down beside the pan and made sure I had a knife handy.

"That's enough," I said in my impatience.

"Bella, it's not even warm yet. Aren't there bacteria to kill? I was sure I came across a cooking show…"

The first bite was in my mouth and I groaned at how good it was. Another bite followed it as I ripped through the tough meat like it wasn't even there. It was like butter.

"That was a fourteen ounce steak," Jasper said dumbfounded. "You just ate it in a minute and three seconds… raw I might add."

Looking down at the plate I frowned. "It was seared! Can I have another?"

~O~

Two more equally large steaks later and I was full and quite happy. Jasper let me use the shower connected to his and Alice's bedroom so I could wash off the week's grime. Supposedly Alice gave me a sponge bath and dressed me in the tacky blue dress that I found out Edward bought for me specifically for this occasion.

When I hopped out and dried off, I spotted the clothes Alice left for me. It was jeans and tee, thank God. I never thought that she'd ever by me something that I'd actually like and I was sort of right. The jeans were skinny style that hugged every inch of my skin and the tee had "Hotter Than a $2 Pistol" in western scrawled on the front.

"Funny, Alice."

Apparently my Converse were missing and if I knew her they were probably in a landfill right about now. Instead, there was a pair of ornate cowboy boots in their place. The trouble was, when I pulled them on they fit perfectly and they were really comfortable. On the plus side I gained two inches in height and I didn't feel like I was going to fall over.

Taking a gaze in the mirror even I had to admit I looked good and it wasn't all that often I ever felt like that. I couldn't exactly tell, but it looked as if my hair was full and healthy looking. After living with it limp and lifeless for so many years it was a welcome change. If I could only gain another cup size everything would be perfect.

When I emerged from the bedroom to hunt Jasper down I didn't even need to listen any more than usual to hear him outside talking on his phone.

"I have no idea, but she is no vampire. She can eat and drink just like before. She's warm and her heart still beats. There's something more, but I can't put my finger on it."

"…"

I wasn't close enough to hear the conversation on the other end, apparently.

"Very well. Charlie comes back tomorrow, so we'll be limited on the amount of time we have to accomplish this."

"…"

"Bella is out of the shower, Carlisle. I need to go. Tell Alice to call me later when she gets the chance."

To make it seem like I wasn't eavesdropping, I headed to the kitchen to clean up the dishes from earlier, but they were already stored away. Instead of standing there like an idiot I grabbed another bottle of water and headed back into the living room where Jasper suddenly appeared.

He stopped and looked me up and down with appreciation. "Nice boots. How do they feel?"

I felt my face warming. "They're comfortable."

"Good. I ordered them from Heritage, down in Houston. They do nice work and they're sturdy."

I smiled and tried to make a joke out of actually liking them. "I feel like I need a cowboy hat now. Yeehaw."

Jasper pointed at me. "Don't joke. It'll be here next week."

When he saw me freeze and my obvious hope that he wasn't serious, he explained. "You like the boots?"

"Well, yeah."

"Then don't hate on the hat before you've even seen it. Along with my venom, you've got Texian in your blood now, Bella. Trust me."

He almost had me for a second there. "Texian?"

"I was born in Houston a year before it became a state. If anyone has a right to call it anything it's me, and that's what we called it back then."

"So, I'm supposed to become a Texian too? Please tell me I don't have to listen to country music."

Jasper just smirked at me. "You'll find that every vampire you come across will develop a certain trait or traits akin to his… or her maker."

Now I know he was full of it. "Are you telling me Emmett has traits that Carlisle has?"

"Indeed he does. Emmett has Carlisle's love of the arts, specifically ballet, but don't ever tell him I said anything about it. He and Rose slip away every now and then to catch a performance whenever they're near competent dancers."

I could not, in a million years, picture big and lovable Emmett sitting still through Swan Lake. It boggled my mind. "What about Edward and Esme?"

"Edward has Carlisle's excellent control. That's an easy one that you should have seen. You were his singer, Bella, and he never bit you. Esme is his mate and they have so many things in common that it would take the rest of the day to list them."

I didn't bother asking about Rosalie, since I was sure Jasper already had something ridiculous waiting in answer.

"What did you get from your… maker?"

"Maker, sire, there's a dozen others, but those are the two most popular. Maria gave me her bloodlust." He paused and then stuck out his bottom lip thoughtfully. "That could be why you like raw meat so much."

"It wasn't raw! The steaks were just rare," I insisted.

"If they were any rarer then they'd be mooing. And since when have you even liked red meat? I thought you were more of a chicken person."

It was true; I liked less fatty meat. At least I used to. Turning around I went to throw the empty bottle away. "I like hamburgers just fine, Jasper, and I mix ground beef in my lasagna as well."

"If you say so."

He waited patiently for me to return without saying anything else to raise my ire. It wasn't my fault that I liked the boots, but I sure as heck wasn't wearing any dusty old hat because he thinks I inherited some stupid Texian thing from him. I mean really… Texian? Whatever.

"Carlisle would like me to run you through a small series of tests, if you wouldn't mind."

"Tests? What kind of tests?" There better not be any needles involved.

"It's to determine what, if anything, about you has changed due to my venom and the wolf's blood."

I bristled at his less than complementary term. "The wolf's name is Seth and he's the one that took down Victoria and her goon, thank you very much. It's something nobody else was able to do and he's only been a wolf for three months."

Jasper bowed slightly at my correction. "Pardon me, ma'am."

I wasn't sure if he was being serious or not, but I took it at face value. When it seemed as if we were finished getting on one another's nerves Jasper held out his hand to the front door. The sun was out. I guess that explained the rest of the Cullen's absence. Evidently, they took advantage of the nice weather to go hunting.

When I reached the bottom of the steps I turned around to see jasper holding a catcher's mitt.

"We're playing catch?"

His lips turned up slightly at my lame joke. "Given enough time I would have bought the proper equipment, but this will do in a pinch. It's more for your protection than mine."

He stood in front of me and held the glove out at chin level for me. "Hit this for me."

I raised my eyebrows. "You want me to punch a catcher's mitt?"

Jasper nodded. "I know you know how to throw a punch, Bella. Spraining your wrist on the wo… Jacob Black's face told me as much. That's why I brought the mitt. Now, give it try."

Frowning, I closed my fist like Charlie taught me and jabbed it out to the center of the mitt with a dull thud.

"Okay," he said. "Your form is good. Does your hand hurt?"

I looked down at it. "No."

"Hit it harder then, and keep hitting it progressively harder until it starts hurting."

This seemed easy enough. Taking the proper stance again I jabbed harder, and then harder still, barely making Jasper's hand move at all. My knuckles were fine, so I dropped all pretenses at protecting myself and reared back to punch it with everything that I had in me.

There was a loud thud and stuffing flew everywhere along with the guy holding the mitt. Jasper stumbled backward a good five feet, barely catching himself before he fell. My jaw dropped open and I immediately looked down at my hand. The skin on three of my knuckles was split open, but only for a moment. Right before my eyes all three wounds closed themselves leaving only a tiny smudge of blood behind.

"Are you okay?"

I just nodded dumbly and kept staring. "It…"

"Healed, yes; just like the wolves."

Dread, like baseball size if ice, dropped into my stomach. "Oh, God. Tell me I'm not going to turn into a dog."

Jasper snorted. "Wolf… and I doubt it. You don't smell anything like them."

I just nodded with relief, still not taking my eyes off the perfect skin of my knuckles.

"We need to pick up some weights and try to see what your limits are."

That broke me from my reverie. "Limits?"

"Darlin', you knocked me backward. No human is strong enough to do that, much less one that couldn't be more than a hundred and twenty pounds dripping wet."

This was evidently the day to stupefy me into submission with revelations. Instead of standing there looking like an idiot, I turned in place and peered around.

"Isn't there something heavy around here?"

"Well, yeah, but it would be safer in a controlled environment with proper tools. You'd be less likely to hurt yourself."

Instead of saying anything I just raised my newly healed hand.

Jasper measured my tenacity for a few moments and then beckoned me with him. "I'm sure we can find something in the garage."

When he led me past the cars and Rosalie's workshop to the back of the garage, I was curious. When he opened a door to a small room filled with building materials I was intrigued.

"What's all this for?"

He chuckled. "Emmett lives in this house. There's not a week that goes by where we haven't had to patch a large hole or even replace an entire wall. Esme buys these supplies in bulk. It saves time traveling back and forth to the hardware store, not to mention a lot of questions from the humans. Here."

Jasper handed me a thick metal bar that had to be eight or nine feet long. Then he set two five gallon paint canisters straddling me on the floor.

"Slide the bar underneath the handles."

I did so and watched as he moved them in a little, just on either side of my feet, and then grabbed a roll of duct tape.

"This will hold them in place so they don't slide off easily."

"How much does one of those weigh?"

He just smiled. "I don't want you to hold anything back, so I'll tell you after."

Once he made several loops with the tape, Jasper stood and backed away, motioning me to give it a try. I knew better than to bend at the waist. Crouching a little, I grabbed the bar and took a breath before lifting both buckets up and swinging the bar to shoulder level. It barely took any effort. Paint must not weight all that much.

"Okay, down. There's enough room for two more. Hold on a second."

With a total of four five gallon canisters secured I lifted the bar. It took a little more effort, but I still wasn't really trying all that hard. It was the balancing I was having more trouble with, since they kept rocking back and forth.

Jasper just eyed me with no comment. "Alright, put those down and let's try something heavier."

"How much was that?" I asked as I hurried to follow him.

"One more test… maybe two more."

I scoffed, but followed him to the back of Emmett's jeep and watched him point down. The floor was virtually spotless – like any garage of Rosalie's would be any different – so I didn't have any excuse not to lay down.

"Are you serious?"

He nodded. "You're not trying to lift the entire car, just the back end. It's a lot lighter. If you can do that then we'll move to the front. The jeep is the only one with enough clearance space underneath to do this properly."

Crawling underneath, I looked around. "Where am I supposed to grab hold?"

"Try the axle. Put your hands on either side of the differential… that's the big bulking thing in the middle."

Is it my fault I had no idea what he was talking about until it was dumbed down for me?

"Just give it a go whenever you're ready."

Now this gave me problems. I could feel the tension in the muscles of my arms and back. I pushed the axle upward, much like a bench press. It definitely moved a few inches before I saw weight being eased off the tires, kind of like jacking up a car. By the time the tires barely came off the ground my arms were shaking with the stress and I thought it a good idea to let it back down before I dropped it. When I felt the pressure ease off, I dropped my arms because I couldn't even hold _them_ up anymore.

Jasper whistled softly. "Impressive."

I sighed and then felt him grab my ankles and pull me out from underneath to give me hand up.

"You feel okay? Did you hurt yourself?"

Rolling my shoulder, the feeling came back rather quickly. Whatever muscles I strained seemed to be healing. "I'm… cool. How heavy was that?"

"A little over 3600 pounds, but remember that you only lifted the back half and barely did that. Call it forty-two percent and you're looking at roughly 1500 pounds. That explains you actually moving me."

I just stood there in wonder.

"Don't get that look. Vampires and even the werewolves could lift and clear this this entire thing easily."

My eyes narrowed and I pursed my lips. "Spoilsport."

~O~

We went on and on, one test after another. First was speed, broken down into hand eye coordination, running, and dodging. That's where I excelled… except for the running part. Jasper could easily outpace me, but my hands and arms moved just as fast as his. Stamina, I had in endless amounts. After a few seconds rest I was ready for whatever he threw at me. It was astounding. By the time the sun set he was ready to call it quits, but I was still bursting with energy, although I was starving.

The wolves were pretty much out of luck if they came to visit. I'd eaten all the steaks. In my defense, they were very tasty, and due to all the physical activity Jasper had me engaged in, I was famished. So it's his fault. Maybe Carlisle could take some of the blame too; it was his idea to start all this stuff anyway. Though it was kind of nice to know I was harder to hurt these days. My insurance provider would be doing backflips if they found out, but the owners of Curad and Neosporin were probably going to lose money in their stock this year.

We still hadn't done any testing on hearing or scent detection, maybe because I still hadn't told Jasper that it was well above normal. Since he could manipulate my emptions at the drop of a hat I figured we were even. That's why I didn't feel bad about eavesdropping on the phone conversation in the next room. Being this close, I could actually hear both ends of the conversation.

"1500 pounds?" Carlisle almost seemed shocked. "Are you sure?"

"Well I didn't put the back end of the jeep on a scale, so that's a pretty rough estimate."

"I see."

"May I speak to Bella?" Edward's voice called from the background.

I frowned.

"That might not be…." There was a definite pause before he continued. "Hold on a minute."

The door opened and Jasper stuck his head out looking at me with confusion before closing it back.

"I think Bella is listening in on us."

Fear of getting caught washed through me. Was I that obvious?

"In fact I'm sure of it now. Apparently she has heightened senses as well. And no Edward; I don't think talking to her would be in your best interest at the moment. Every time your name is mentioned, Bella gets extremely annoyed."

"What," my negligent boyfriend nearly yelled. "What happened? What have you been saying about me, Jasper?"

"Not a word, Edward. Though she might be wondering why you wouldn't bite her even while she was fatally injured. I could be wrong."

"That's ridiculous."

"Boys," Carlisle intervened. "Now is not the time for this kind of conversation. "Besides, if you are correct in your assessment, Jasper, Bella is listening to your bickering."

He cracked open the door and I saw a portion of Jasper's face peering through the opening. I just gave him a thumbs-up and smiled. Let him wonder what that meant. You'd think after decades these guys would be more circumspect regarding preternatural powers, but after what Jasper said I really didn't think he cared. There's something to be said for his forthright personality. At the bare minimum he wasn't treating me like I was an innocent anymore. I wondered if that had something to do with my smelling less desirable, blood-wise.

Understandably, he would be more at ease not having his guard up and having to watch his every move… or my every move rather. It kind of made me wonder what I smelled like to Edward. Was I no longer his singer? Would his desire for me wane? I would almost be relieved if it did. Jasper was right on one aspect. I was extremely annoyed that he wasn't the one to change me. After all we had gone though in the past few months, one would think we'd be closer than ever, but no, that wasn't the case.

"They'll be here in about an hour," Jasper said as he entered the room.

I just gave him a thin-lipped smile and leaned back with no comment.

"So, your hearing has improved."

It wasn't a question, so I didn't bother answering.

"Any other surprises I should be aware of?"

Glancing out the window into the forest I said, "I can see better. Even with the sun down it's like a cloudy day out there."

"Anything else?" he prodded.

"I can't shoot laser beams out of my eyes if that's what you're getting at."

Jasper smiled appreciatively. "You're a lot more sarcastic than you were yesterday."

"Another gift from you?"

He just shrugged.

If there was one thing I didn't want to do that evening it was listen to Edward apologize one more time and Carlisle poke at me. "Will you take me home?"

I saw his tongue briefly work the inside of his mouth. "You don't want to wait for the others?"

"Not particularly. I think I need time to…"

"Decompress?"

A nod was my answer. "Good word; fitting."

The drive home was quiet, thankfully. Because of all the drama, I didn't think I wanted to talk about anything. I just wanted to lie in my own bed and gel for a few hours, maybe all night. My body was still humming along with no end in sight. It was probably because of the fifteen days of sleep.

When Jasper dropped me off I asked him to make sure Edward didn't visit. Frankly, I was tired of vampires for one day… maybe for the week. I didn't get what I'd desired since that fateful day I found out about the supernatural. I wasn't a vampire. I wasn't a werewolf either, for that matter. Being something in-between wasn't a good feeling. I'm sure Jacob would be thrilled that my heart was still beating and with my attitude toward Edward, but that wasn't much of a balm for my emotions.

I showered, washed my hair, and shaved all the appropriate places for my own pleasure, and not because I thought tonight might be the night Edward won't hold back. Frankly I was tired of his starchy behavior. While it's nice to read about a love interest being a gentleman, in real life it's frustrating as hell.

When I made it to my room, I had just enough time to check my email, return one from Mom, and sign off before there was a tap at the twice checked and locked window.

When I moved the sheer curtain aside there was the goofy face of Jacob Black staring back at me. I just raised a single eyebrow back at him before opening it and blocking the way so he couldn't come in.

"Is there something wrong with the front door?"

"Hi, Bells." He paused to sniff at me. I was really getting tired of being sniffed at like all the boys were waiting for me to go in heat or something. "You smell different."

My nose wrinkled. "And you smell like you haven't taken a bath in three days, Jacob. They have this little invention called deodorant. It doesn't even cost that much. I hear Right Guard even makes some that lasts for seventy-two hours for those less hygienic boys out there."

"Whoa," he said "What crawled up your…"

"Finish that sentence and we'll see if I can break my wrist again. Now please go down and use the front door like a normal person."

Jake barely missed having his fingers squished on the window when I closed it. I did manage to catch the glare he threw at me when he landed on the ground. A few seconds later the doorbell rang. Even though I was in shorts and a cami for bed, I threw on my bathrobe and answered the door.

"Sorry," he said with genuine remorse in his eyes.

Stepping back, I let him. It's been months now, but I'm still in awe about how Jake has grown. He even ducks slightly when he goes through any doorway. He still has a few inches to go before he'd crack the top of his head. I guess it's a subconscious thing.

"So, you're awake and still alive?"

I nodded and found a place on the couch, pulling my feet up under me as I sat. "A Frankenstein needle full of venom and I still can't seem do it right. How'd you find out I was awake anyway?"

"Seth goes over every night to check on you."

My heart lightened at that news. I was really beginning to like that boy. He had all of the power of a wolf and the heart of a medieval knight. Too bad he wasn't three or four years older. He'd make a good boyfriend, not like… Nevermind. It wasn't good to dwell on negative thoughts.

"That's sweet of him. Tell him I said thanks, and don't tease him when you do."

Jake just smiled with mischief in his eyes. "You're taking all the fun out of this, Bella."

I didn't bother letting him attempt to rile me up. "He saved my life taking on and killing the vampire none of the pack or the Cullens could catch, not to mention getting me to Carlisle before I bled to death. He deserves the respect he's more than earned, and not to be teased because he's the smallest wolf. His heart's _definitely_ the largest."

That seemed to sober Jake's mood. He sat up from his reclined position on Charlie's chair and narrowed his eyes at me taking everything in.

"This isn't about you not turning into a leech." He paused obviously thinking hard. "You're different. You're definitely angrier."

I just sighed and rubbed my forehead, waiting for the headache to settle in even though it probably wouldn't with this new healing thing I've got going on. There wasn't a way I was going to avoid the topic of my change, not with all the danger I seemed to attract. Sooner or later I'd fall or cut myself and Jake would see me healing way too fast. Despite my current anger issues and rapidly devolving personality changes, he was still my best friend, not to mention the kiss we shared that I still haven't dealt with.

"I am different."

Jake's expression opened up with concern. "What happened?"

I sighed again. "Carlisle and Jasper think it was because I lost so much blood… well that and Seth's blood."

"What?"

"Look, Seth was hurt fighting Victoria. She had these wicked sharp nails; that's how I wound up with a slit throat."

A phantom pain opened up where I was injured and I rubbed it self-consciously.

"When he applied pressure to the wound, he had his own blood all over his hand. That, mixed with the venom and my blood loss… it changed me into something new."

I could tell he was totally confused. "New?"

"I've got traits from the wolves and the vampires. Speed, strength, senses, rapid healing… I don't know what else. I left before Carlisle got back to the house."

Jake dropped boneless back onto the chair. "Huh."

"And to top the whole thing off, Jasper says when vampires are made sometimes they take certain traits of their makers."

"Hold on. You mean you're going to start acting like Edward."

I wasn't sure, but I think that was the first time Jake had ever said his name. It was always 'the leech' or 'the bloodsucker' or even 'the mind reader'. I was probably wrong.

"No. Nobody bit me. Jasper saved up his venom because Alice told him to. They shot it into my heart. Technically, Jasper would be my maker if I actually turned into a vampire."

Jake was stumped again. "Saved? How do you save that stuff?"

I shrugged. "I guess it drips from their teeth or something. I never really asked."

"Hold on. You've got vampire spit in your veins?"

A murderous glare from me shut him up. He even raised his hands in surrender. After Jacob coughed a couple of times to officially end that topic we both sat there in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't uncomfortable by any means, at least not for me. I had too many things on my mind: Edward and the inevitable train wreck of our relationship, the new and somewhat improved Bella Swan, Jasper and whatever funky traits that have been passed on to me, what I was going to tell or not tell Charlie when he decided to show up the next day, and…

"Bella?"

"Hmm?"

Jake's eyes met mine and then dropped to the side. Shyness really wasn't part of his personality anymore, especially since he started phasing. Oh.

"I was wondering… if you've thought anymore about what happened that day."

That day. That day was pretty much yesterday for me, or maybe it was more like a thousand years ago due to the never ending fire I experienced under the effects of Jasper's venom. I wanted to just tell him that I was too busy to think about it. Putting off the subject for an indefinite period of time seemed ideal, but I couldn't do that to him.

"I need you to hear me out before you start jumping to conclusions, alright?"

Jacob closed his mouth somewhat firmly and slipped his hands underneath two very thick thighs. I guess it was his way of keeping himself in place for a short time.

"After what happened that day… I don't really know where Edward and I stand."

His eyes opened hopefully, but I guess he remembered my warning and relaxed under a nervous tension.

"I mean about Victoria, Seth, me, Jasper, the whole whatever I am thing. I was really disappointed that he couldn't go through with it. Not that I didn't turn into a vampire or anything. I mean I was laying there dying and he still didn't want to turn me, or couldn't. I don't know."

Fiddling around with the tie on my robe, I continued.

"If he would have just listened to me and been there to help Seth out then all of this would have blown over. And there's the problem. He doesn't listen to anything I have to say regarding important decisions… and neither do you."

Jacob's mouth dropped open in disbelief. "Bella."

I held up my hand. "I'm not finished. You and he are just different sides of the same coin. You're both brave, strong, handsome, courageous, and I believe you two do the things you do because you genuinely believe that you're doing it my best interest. But you see, I'm not an idiot. My opinion matters to me and it should also matter to the person who says they care for me, not summarily dismissed because I'm human or a girl or for whatever reason. It's not the case anymore."

Leaning forward I picked up the letter opener that Charlie always leaved on the coffee table after he opens the mail.

"I'm not human anymore, Jake. I'm part leech now. I ate seven New York Strip steaks today just barely seared on either side because I really like the taste of the blood and I was constantly hungry. My anger fuse is becoming constantly lit and I'm snapping at my friends. So, you see, I'm getting some of the worst of your traits as well as theirs."

Drawing the letter opened across my palm, I winced at the pain as I dug it in because the blade was so dull. Blood welled up and Jake bolted forward to grab my hand.

"Bella! What the hell?"

It was over before it even started. The wound literally sucked most of the blood back in and closed up right before his eyes, leaving a minor red smudge behind.

"There are some perks."

Another few seconds passed and the pain was entirely gone.

"You didn't have to do that. If you say you can heal then you can heal."

"Oh, now you're listening to me?"

He frowned and became more than serious. "That not fair."

"It's more than fair, Jacob. You and Edward both have to be slapped in the face with reality before either of you believe anything from me."

"Bella… Bells, that's not…"

"It's true and you know it. I always listen to you, to hear your side of things, even though it's usually filled with hate or name calling. I always listen even when I disagree. You just yell and think I'm deluded. Edward just dismisses my concerns and changes the subject. Well, that ends today."

Turning, I started to walk to the door and open it for him so he could leave, but he wound up grabbing my forearm, holding me in place.

"You don't want to do this, Bella. You're angry. I get that, really."

Snapping my hand out just as fast as the wolves or the vampires could, I grabbed the wrist of his free arm. "I'm not defenseless anymore. Let me go."

"Not until I get my say," he ground out. Even I could see he was holding his temper a lot better than I was.

I tightened my grip on his wrist, not letting him pull away and he did the same to me. With my enhanced senses I could hear bones being ground together underneath the skin. Whether they were his or mine I had no idea.

"Bella, we need to…"

Something shifted underneath the pressure he was applying to my forearm.

_Snikt!_

Pain erupted from the fist of my left hand and almost faster than I could see two off white things came out of my hand and embedded themselves into my best friend's chest. Jacob's eyes went wide and he jerked as he inhaled with shock. I screamed in fright and in the same second Jacob coughed and pulled away, spraying blood from his mouth right in my face.

The two claw-like things pulled away leaving at least two inches bloodstained and I screamed again.

"Jacob!"

He stumbled back and threw his hand up to cover and apply pressure to the wounds and he stared at me wide-eyed.

"I'm sorry! Oh God! I didn't know they were there, I swear!"

Backing up a step he dropped down on Charlie's chair and waved me off. It looked as if he was going to say something when he coughed again dribbling up more blood.

"Don't move," I virtually yelled. "I'll call Carlisle. He'll know what to do."

Jacob shook his head and grabbed me as I tried to get around him.

"I'll…" he wheezed. "…be fine."

My brain was obviously not in gear. The wolves had their own quick healing. I just needed to make him comfortable.

"Okay… I'll grab a towel then."

Turning in place I moved again to the kitchen and Jake had to duck out of the way of the things sticking out of my hand so he wouldn't get skewered again.

"Dammit! This is impossible! They're… ugh!"

Grabbing one of the things I gripped it to try to push it back in, but the bottom portion wound up sliced into my fingers down to the bone.

"OWW!"

I swung it away and Jacob ducked again. "Bella! Stop freaking out before you cut off an arm!"

~O~

"Interesting," Carlisle said as he turned my hand over to look at where the _bone claw_, as he called it, exited out from between my index and middle finger while another came out between my pinky and ring fingers."

"Interesting? I nearly shish kabobed my best friend with my new super claws and it's _interesting_?"

Carlisle glanced up at me and he shrugged an apology. "You have to admit, Bella, that this is quite the turn of events. Not only have you become an entirely new race of supernatural… well, being… your body has also generated quite the defense mechanism."

I narrowed my eyes at him indicating my lack of enthusiasm.

"They appear to have thicker protrusions at the base that prevent them from being removed, effectively locking them in place between the carpels and metacarpals. What I don't understand is how they made it past the carpels without destroying them in the first place. Perhaps a spontaneous…"

"Carlisle. Do I really need an anatomy lesson right at the moment? Can you just tell me how to get them back in or take them out?"

"My apologies, Bella." He studied one side of my hand and then the other.

While I could still move my forearm, the majority of my hand along with my wrist was locked in place. The only fingers I could move slightly were my pinky and index finger. My thumb was just fine. My dream of becoming a professional hitchhiker wasn't entirely lost just as long as people could ignore the eight inch blades sticking out of my fist. Yes, Carlisle measured them. He also cut himself in doing so.

Evidently, my claws could slice through the vampire's granite like skin with ease. It wound up healing about as fast as Jacob's wounds did. Given a few minutes I couldn't even tell where it had sliced through his palm.

"Try relaxing your hand."

"I have tired," I said through gritted teeth.

He just cocked his head and stared at me. Okay, I was a little pent up with a massive amount of frustration. It had been a really hard day. I tried taking a deep breath and it just shuddered out of me. There was no way I was calming down at least for the next year or two.

"Jasper," Carlisle said. "Your assistance please."

A waved of peace washed over me and I nearly dropped right there on the examination table. The second I went limp I heard that sound again from before.

_Snikt!_

And they were gone. The tension in my wrist and hand eased away along with the sudden pain from where the blades exited from my skin. Carlisle wiped away a smudge of blood and everything was as good as new.

"Thank you, Jasper."

I nodded along my current and private physician thanking my stars that he was available for me.

"Now, Bella let's see if you can activate their release once more."

"What? I just got them back in!" There was no way I was chancing getting them stuck again.

"You must understand, my dear, you hold within your arm a weapon capable of slicing through vampire flesh with little resistance. Would you endanger your father with an innocent hug not knowing if you would skewer him in the process?"

Why does he always have to be so reasonable? Carlisle was right. If I didn't figure out what triggered the claws then I'd always be a nervous wreck.

"Jacob squeezed my arm right here and they just popped out."

There was a loud thump from downstairs. I wasn't really paying attention to anything except for what was right in front of me until that moment. Once I focused I could hear Esme berating Edward and Jacob. I frowned at how they were back at each other's throats.

"Jasper, is it true that people who fight all the time are just releasing their unresolved sexual tension?"

He was standing by the door with his arms crossed when he smiled devilishly. "Are you saying Edward and Jacob need to get a room?"

I smiled back. "Well, it would explain a few things."

"I'm not gay!" was bellowed from below.

Carlisle chose that moment to squeeze my forearm, but nothing happened.

"No, turn your hand around," I said and showed him exactly where. "He was pushing the two bones together I think."

Again, there was nothing.

"Maybe we need to get the… Jacob up her to tick her off again."

My eyes went to narrow slits again as I raised my other fist and mockingly threated Jasper. "Don't make me come over there and…"

_Snikt!_

Two new bone claws ripped their way out of my right hand this time.

"Oh, _come on_! Not my other hand too!"

Jasper leaned forward to get a better look, but stayed well out of my reach. "You know, I think spring loaded weapons are illegal in the state of Washington."

Carlisle was too busy examining my right hand this time. "I highly doubt there are any springs in Bella's forearm. This is more likely to be caused by the formation of new muscle and quite possibly new tendon as well. My dear, make a fist with your left hand and straighten out your wrist to align with… yes, right there. Now, try a little manipulation of your hand and arm muscles, and possibly the tension level of the…"

_Snikt!_

Brilliant. Now I have to sets of claws and I can't release my fists. Pointing my right set at Jasper I said. "Not one word."

He just stood there, out of range, clearly amused.

"And relax," Carlisle continued. "Try shifting…"

He didn't even have a chance to get the rest of the sentence out before I finally figured the trick. I had to ease up on the forearm muscles and relax my fingers at the same time to pull them back in. I think as long as I don't make a fist then I'm in the clear. That should be easy enough.

"Excellent! Well done, Bella. Again, once more, to cement the positioning in your mind."

"You do know every time I do this, these things are ripping thorough my skin. It's not exactly comfortable."

Carlisle gave me a nod, but pressed on anyway. "A brief moment of pain, from which you will suffer no long lasting effects, is preferable to accidently releasing them out of your control."

Knowing he was right, again, didn't make me feel any better when I straightened out my wrists and felt each set of claws spring out of my hand at the same time and then retract a few moments later.

"Wonderful. You seem to have them under control for the time being."

"Until she tries to use them," Jasper added.

I glowered at him.

"I'm serious, Bella. A weapon is twice as deadly when the owner is clueless about its use."

"So I won't use them," I said as I stood and wiped at my knuckles. I was really going to have to invest in some baby wipes or something to clean off the little drops of blood; maybe some moist towelettes instead.

"And the first time you feel threatened when one of us isn't around? What are you going to do?"

I glanced over at Carlisle to see his reaction to what Jasper was saying. The man, when he wants to be, is an open book of emotional facial expressions. Currently he was wearing the _You know it's best for you. Why are you even thinking about arguing? _expression. It made me feel like an eight year old girl that had to go to the dentist. In my defense, dentists are creepy. I always wind up being scheduled with the men and I've seen where men put their hands when they think I'm not looking. There's no way they're going in my mouth after that.

Like I said; creepy.

I sighed and dropped my shoulders. "Fine. Can we do it some other time that's not right now? My brain feels like mush, and I just want to curl up with a trashy romance novel and fantasize about a normal life concerning guys with names like Steele Rathbone and Hunter Armageddon."

Did I say that last part out loud?

Jasper was busy thumbing through his contacts list on his phone before hitting one and bringing it up to his ear. This time I did concentrate on my hearing, so I could easily eavesdrop.

"Jasper," a female voice said on the other end. "What's wrong?"

"Why does anything have to be wrong for me to call you?" He paused for a moment when there was no answer. "Okay, I probably deserved that."

There was a slight giggle in return.

"There's actually nothing wrong this time. I was just calling to tell you about this girl that's close to our family. You remember when you said you wanted an apprentice for your Kung Fu stuff?"

"It's not _Kung Fu stuff_ you retarded hick," she snapped back. "It's martial arts, and you're just jealous because you can't kick my ass anymore."

"Anyway."

"Yes, Jasper. Are you saying that you've found a vampire that actually wants to learn something other than hissing and biting the person she's fighting?"

"She's not a vampire, Charlotte, but she's not entirely human either. Either way, she's family."

"Really?" She sounded surprised. "What is she?"

"Something new."

"There isn't anything new, just undiscovered."

"Nope, this is new. You might even say unique. Even Carlisle agrees."

"Reeaaaly. So what am I looking at?"

Jasper eyed me up and down before responding. "Human looking female, about five-four, dainty, about half as strong as one of us, but just as quick and she's got eight inch retractable bone claws that pop out of her fists."

"No shit?"

"I shit you not."

"Hmm. You're timing's pretty good. Peter has to go to Hollywood to take care of some business. How about I show up there late tomorrow and we can get started. She's not stupid is she?"

Jasper's lips turned up as I glared at him. "That's debatable. She _is _hanging around a family of vampires."

I flipped him off from the side so Carlisle wouldn't see the gesture.

"Sounds like fun," she said.

"See you tomorrow."

"You're not funny," I said as I turned to the door.

"I'm pretty funny."

~O~

"You're like Wolverine." Emmett wouldn't get out of my way until he got to see the claws.

"I'm not like Wolverine. He had three claws and they were metal."

"Yeah, but that was after the government got a hold of him and painted his skeleton with adamantium." He paused for a second and got this delighted and goofy grin on his face.

I just pointed at him. "No."

"But…"

"I said no, Emmett. There's no such thing as adamantium and I'm not getting my skeleton painted so you can have a geekgasm."

"Spoilsport."

"Bella."

I turned and saw Edward standing there impatiently waiting his turn at the new supernatural attraction in the neighborhood.

"Edward. I'm going home."

"Darling, I haven't seen you in over fifteen days."

Passing him by, I headed to the door where Jacob was waiting. "I'm still going home."

"I'll come by tonight."

"My window is locked. Don't bother. I'll see you tomorrow."

"But…"

I was starting to like the new Bella. She was sassy! Plus, she wasn't willing to be anyone's throwrug anymore. By the neutral expression on Jacob's face it seemed as if I could teach an old dog new tricks – no pun intended. He didn't tease Edward, only keeping his eyes on me the entire time. Maybe I misjudged him and he was listening to what I had to say. All it took was stabbing him in the chest to get his attention. Granted it was an accident, but still.

"Bella," Edward called out one more time.

I turned around and sighed. "I'm in a really bad mood right now, and I don't want to say something that I'll regret later. Just please leave it alone until tomorrow."

He nodded sullenly and let me go without making a bigger scene. That's a point for him. Honestly, I was pretty sure it was over between us, but I wasn't going to be a jerk and break up with him when I was still stewing about his decision to not bite me. I thought I owed it to him to be calm and rational if or when I do this. I owed it to myself as well. Maybe I just needed to be on my own for a little while.

No, screw that. I've been on my own for years. I just wanted a boyfriend who actually listed to me. Every other girl in the world wanted the same thing I suppose. We'll see.

TBC...


	2. I'm Not a Werewolf

Author's Note: Disclaimer in first chapter. It was pointed out to me by an anonymous review that the use of the word Texian was incorrect. That's where her/she would be wrong. Before Texas became a state and decades after you can find numerous times Texian, Texasian, Texican, and Texonian were in use. It wasn't until much later that Texan became popular in use. Texian, however was the most popular of the other odd ones and also the most popular among the Houston/Galveston are where Jasper was a human. In a future chapter the wildflowers listed were also the more popular ones in the area at the time. I do my research, thank you very much.

**Chapter 2**

I missed the last two weeks of summer vacation. Well, technically I wasn't going to school anymore since I graduated, but I had already made plans to be changed into a vampire before my nineteenth birthday, somehow or another. Edward's engagement ring was probably still in his pocket waiting for a yea vote from me that was never coming.

That was one of the things I was angry with Edward about. As I tried to argue my side of the newborn/Victoria conflict, my boyfriend was trying to propose to me. I told him flat out no and the day devolved from there. Sorry, but I'm not being pressured into an institution that is so antiquated even the government penalizes you for participating by way of taxing you less if you're single.

I was Miss Bella Swan and I'd be her until the day I died, whenever that may happen. Taking the whole venom/wolf-blood/healing thing I had a feeling deep inside that I wasn't going to age like the rest of human civilization. I had more issues to deal with and apparently I had a lot of time to do it since I didn't get a single wink of sleep the night previous. It wasn't because of all the stress and issues; no it's could be that easy. It was because I inherited yet another vampire perk; I didn't need to sleep.

Do you know how boring it is to stay up all night, by yourself, with nothing new to read? Even porn gets boring after the third hour of surfing. Yes, I said porn, though I prefer the written word to the tasteless visual version. I was so sexually pent up it was pathetic. This is what happens when you date a vampire that was changed in the early twentieth century. He wanted to be a gentleman and I want get on all fours and hang on to the headboard for dear life. Even after taking care of myself twice I still couldn't fall asleep.

At the break of dawn I gave up and got out of bed, opened my closet, and growled. All my clothes were gone and in their place were several sets of new jeans, at least twenty pair in an assortment of colors.

"Alice."

Her scent was barely there so she must have switched everything out soon after I was injected. I was almost surprised that there weren't dozens of dresses hung up on those padded hangers she likes so much. What I did appreciate was the number of tee shirts and wife beaters that hung side by side. There were a handful of dresses included, but that was it. Alice actually took my tastes into account. Would wonders never cease?

Down below sat several different pairs of cowboy boots. Some were shiny, others were fancy; there were even a couple pairs of heels for the dresses I'm sure, but nowhere were there any converse. Grabbing randomly, I chose a dark blue set of stretch jeans and a gray wife beater. If I was going to be training later then I wanted to be as underdressed as possible. It was usually less expensive on the clothing from what I've seen.

I washed my face and ran a brush through my hair a few times. It was odd to actually see it behaving instead of hanging there limp and lifeless with that oily sheen that it always had even after washing. I could probably make millions off the rights to whatever component venom had that caused the upgrade.

Halfway through breakfast Charlie walked in looking happy for once.

"Hey, Dad. Have fun?"

He smiled contently. "Didn't catch a thing. Best vacation I ever had."

Fathers are very confusing.

"How about you. You look like you've gotten some rest." He paused and lifted my chin with the tips of his fingers. "The circles under your eyes are gone."

I nodded in an attempt to steer the conversation away from anything supernatural. "I'm good."

Leaving his suitcase beside the table, Charlie opened the freezer and pulled out a couple of waffles to pop in the toaster. I watched him rummage around for a plate and a glass of orange juice while I contemplated what to say to him if anything at all.

Vampire law says if you know about them then you have to become them or die. Tribe law just deflects the issue all together; out of sight out of mind. The problem was that Charlie wasn't stupid. He'd seen some seriously weird stuff going on ever since I moved here. Every day brings something different, it seems. Vicious deaths, missing people, surviving accidents that should have killed normal people; eventually, he'd catch on and then what? One day he's going to come across one of us doing something that shouldn't be possible, especially if he's living with someone that is now officially part of the twilight world.

And what was I supposed to do? Technically, I didn't belong to either group. I was something new, unique, according to Carlisle and Jasper. Did that mean I wasn't included under their laws? I mean the Volturi had no say so in what happens on the reservation. Sure, they could come over from Italy and start a war, but still they didn't have the right to say how the wolves lived.

It was then that I decided since I was a new species, or whatever, I could make my own rules. I was the leader, the council elder, the royalty, and I could do what I wanted.

The leaders of the wolves mostly had the right idea. I should keep a history of my life in case it happens to someone else. That way they wouldn't be totally in the dark if or when it happens again. The major sticking point that always bugged me was that family couldn't be told about their own children. Seth and Leah Clearwater had it easier than most since as of Harry's death Sue was an elder. A lot of the other wolves' family thought their sons were drug addicts, in an gang, or were trouble makers, even with the council's approval and public backing. That just wasn't right. No parent should have to think ill of their child if there was another way.

"Dad?" I said as he sat down cattycorner from me at the table.

His eyes darted up at me from his waffle. "Hmm?"

"I want to talk about something… important."

As soon as the words came out of my mouth his shoulders sagged. "You're pregnant."

"What? No!" I swear; he's been a cop for way too long. "I'm a virgin."

He sighed, relieved and went about pouring syrup on his plate. "So what's going on?"

"I'm breaking up with Edward."

Pausing for a moment, I could see the corners of his mouth tugging upward as he was trying his best not to smile. "Did he do something?"

"No. He's been a perfect gentleman." Which was part of the problem.

"I just realized he's not the one for me. We have serious communication issues. I've tried to talk to him about it, but he refuses to budge, so I'm moving on." That was putting it as mildly as possible.

"Well, good. If that's what you want."

"It is."

"Good."

"Good."

This is getting stupid.

"Was there something else?" he asked.

Damn me and my fidgeting. "Uh, yeah. It's something really important and I need for you to not freak out until I'm finished telling you."

His chewing slowed and came to a dead stop. "What happened?"

Ignoring his question I quickly thought over the best way to introduce him to the problem, but it all came back to him not believing me without proof, and I wasn't going to spring the claws on him right at that moment. Considering how much fish fry he consumed in a single week. He'd most likely wind up joining Harry Clearwater and have a heart attack.

"Can I see your pocket knife for a second? I want to show you something."

Charlie paused for a second and then dug at his belt pouch and withdrew the utility knife I knew he kept very sharp. I unfolded the large blade and then looked up at him.

"Remember, don't freak out."

"Bella, what…"

Before he had the chance to stop me, I ran the edge of the blade across the fleshy part of my palm. His eyes widened and his hand snapped out to grab the knife before I could cut any further.

"Shit!"

"Stop, Charlie! Wait."

Right there in front of him the blood welled for a split second and then withdrew before the skin knitted together looking as good as new. I wiped the drop or two that was left behind and set my napkin aside. Charlie grabbed my hand and stared intently where I made the cut. He even turned it back and forth.

"But…"

"I need to show you that before I began this story. I'm sorry that I scared you."

He was spooked. There was no getting around what I just did without some fantastic explanation, and Charlie wasn't one to simply dismiss the laws of known science for something he'd probably only seen on television.

"Do you remember the deaths of those people soon after I moved here?"

His confusion was all the answer I needed.

"They weren't killed by bears or even those giant wolves I told you about."

When he looked like he was about to ask a question I raised my hand up to stop him.

"You can't ask any questions."

"The hell I can't. I'm your father."

I smiled and held his hand. "That's why I'm telling you everything I can. Certain things I can't tell you because it isn't my place. They're other people's secrets."

"Not if it involves murder, Bella."

I sighed. This wasn't going as I planned. "Then let me tell my story and then you can ask your questions."

His eyes narrowed. "This involves the Cullens, doesn't it?"

"Not just them, and they're the good guys here."

Charlie pushed his plate away and interlocked his fingers on top of the table. I've seen this position before. It usually involves a suspect sitting on the other side of the table from him. So, I just got on with the tale.

"There are things out there that you wouldn't believe, Dad. I've seen them, and… I'm one of them."

"What?" He was acting as if I was drunk or something, like nothing I was saying was making any sense. That was until I held up my hand as proof that he'd forgotten already.

"It happened to me while you were gone, but that's for later. For right now, I'm telling you about the things I've seen or been involved with."

All the stress that Charlie left behind on his vacation was back with a vengeance. "Go on."

I nodded and sat up. "Certain people you know aren't what they seem. They're good people, just different. I suppose it's something of yours that rubbed off on me somewhere on our genetic line. I notice things other people don't, and I don't set the oddities aside because they sound or appear unreal."

"What do you mean? Give me an example."

"Alright. Take the Cullens. Most of them are adopted, right? Then how come they all have exactly the same eye color and exactly the same pale skin, and exactly the same cold skin?"

I could see he was running their faces through his head.

"Now take the boys on the rez. How can teenagers grow a foot and a half taller and gain over fifty and in some cases sixty pounds in less than a few months? Not to mention the massive personality shifts, and let's not forget all the secrets that are suddenly a part of their lives. Even drug use doesn't take that into account. Steroid use doesn't produce that kind of response, Dad. Maybe after long term use, but not for the short term; years, not just months."

He processed that and seemed to accept my observations. "Okay."

"You can't talk to Billy Black about any of this."

"Why not?"

"Because it's a tribal secret."

"You know," he said almost accusingly.

"Because I was involved with some things and found out accidently. Even the majority of the people on the reservation don't even know… well they know, they just don't think any of the stories have any basis in fact while there are easier explanations out there."

"Stories?"

_Oh crap_. I said too much.

"Are you talking about those old tribal stories Billy talks about over the bonfires when he's drunk? The… descended from wolves thing?"

Right at that moment Charlie's eyes widened. "You're not saying…"

Taking a deep breath I knew I'd given it away before I'd even started. "You can't say anything, Dad. You _can't_ know about this stuff. It's too dangerous."

His chair scooted back making a sharp noise on the wood floor. "Are saying all that crap is true?"

Resigned to my fate I nodded. "And then some."

"Wolves… those were the giant wolves you saw in the forest. You're saying that Jacob Black is one of those…"

"Werewolves."

Charlie got up from his chair and paced for a few seconds before heading over to the refrigerator and grabbing a beer at seven in the morning. He took a long swig and then another before pointing at me.

"There's no such thing," he said lamely. It was obvious that even he didn't believe what he was trying desperately to dismiss.

"That's how they grew so much in such a short span of time. The whole story is true, Dad. They're protectors. They don't harm people. It's a mystical thing, or magical, whatever you want to call it. When their tribe is threatened, certain bloodlines are activated."

"The murders…"

I nodded. "Right. Their tribe was threatened, having the murders so close. A few shifted to deal with the problem."

"Harry lied to me."

"To protect you… and the boys. That's why he had his heart attack. Seth and Leah both phased for the first time right in front of him and he wasn't prepared for it."

"Shit," he whispered. "Sue knows?"

I nodded. "She's a council elder. They all know."

At that moment my cell rang and I left Charlie to think about what was just revealed. "Edward."

"Good morning, Bella. Did you sleep well?"

"No, not at all."

"Ah… I was wondering if you might want to come over early so we would have an opportunity to discuss… things."

"As soon as I can. My dad just got in and we're talking right now."

"I understand. Well then, I'll see you afterward?"

"Sounds good. Goodbye, Edward."

Hitting the power button I turned the phone off so we wouldn't be disturbed anymore.

"So, you're a werewolf," Charlie said. "Is that what you're saying?"

I shook my head. "No. I'm not part of their bloodline… unless there's something you haven't told me."

Charlie snorted. "My parents moved here from Louisiana."

"What about Mom's?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. You'll have to ask her."

That would be just perfect. I could see that conversation going over well. _'Jake, I'm your cousin. It seems as if your grandfather boned my grandmother. Still want to get together?'_ Gag!

"Cut to the chase, Bella. What happened to you?"

I glanced up at him. "I don't know. Nobody does."

"Well, how did it happen?"

That was the part I wasn't exactly sure of how to explain. "I was attacked out in the forest."

Charlie's face went all concerned as he quickly examined me with his eyes.

"When I woke up I was like this."

"Like what. You look like you did when I left… well, better actually."

I nodded. "I can't be hurt… like you just saw with the knife. It heals right back up in seconds. On the plus side you don't have to worry about me falling down a flight of stairs anymore."

He started to say something a number of times, but stopped every time he opened his mouth.

"I'm stronger, faster… improved senses, endless energy… I didn't even fall asleep last night."

~O~

We spent the next two hours in the kitchen while I caught Charlie up on everything he's been clueless about for the last year and a half while I've been avoiding anything that has to do with vampires. He caught on to the wolves far too fast; I didn't want him to make the connection between the Cold Ones and the Cullens. That would be bad. But in the end he was still my dad and he definitely acted like it. It was the murders and missing persons in Seattle that broke the camel's back.

"That's it. You're never leaving the house again."

"I can't be hurt, Dad. This is why I told you everything to begin with, so you'd stay out of this type of stuff when I tell you it's there."

"I'm a fully trained and seasoned officer of the law. Believe me, I can deal with it."

Pulling my chair in closer I set my elbow against the table in the traditional pose for arm wrestling. "If you can put me on the table then I'll do whatever you say without any arguments."

He glowered at me. "I'm not arm wrestling you, Bells."

"Because you can't," I said obviously goading him. "I'll just sit here; I won't even put up a fight."

Charlie looked away and then back to me. "And when I do, you'll listen to me?"

"Every word."

He eyed me, measuring my resolve, so I crossed my heart and held up my other hand. It was an old gesture we used to use with each other from my childhood when I visited. It meant that I was serious.

Brushing his mustache with his fingers for a moment Charlie made his decision and gripped my hand with his own. Now my dad isn't overly tall, maybe in the six foot range, but he's built pretty well for an old guy. His hands, however, were huge. It always made me feel safe when I was a little girl when he held my hand as we were out and about. This time was no exception. I could barely see the back of my hand with his fingers wrapped firmly around it.

"Ready?" he asked.

I just nodded and clenched my bicep. Charlie jerked, but not with a lot of strength. I knew he didn't want to hurt me, just so that I could easily be overpowered, because I was just a little girl. My arm didn't even quiver in response. He eased up and looked at me with a strange face, before he started putting more muscle into it, then more and more.

Finally his face started showing the strain. His cheeks were reddening and the vein at his temple that always throbs when he lifts weights out back started pulsing.

"Go ahead and lean into it if you want," I said like I didn't have a care in the world. "Use both hands."

That's when I received his fatherly glare and he eased back and let go.

"You knew I wouldn't be able to budge you."

"Yep" Leaning forward even more I whispered. "I said that I was stronger now."

Charlie stood up and took his half eaten waffle with him to the trash. "Strong means that you can open the pickle jar without any help, not…"

Letting out a slow breath I could tell that things were about to get uncomfortable. "Dad, the reason I'm telling you all this is because I'm tired of hiding things from you. I don't like lying. If you want to forget I ever said anything and…"

"No," he said immediately. "There's no way I can forget… werewolves."

"So if I tell you to let certain cases go because they fall under the… weird stuff, you'll listen?"

He turned to me. "I can't do that. I can take care of myself."

This was starting to go downhill. "Bullets can't stop these things. Speeding cars couldn't stop these things. So unless you have a missile in your back pocket you pretty much can't defend against them."

"What about you?" he said with a twinge of accusation in his voice.

I shrugged. "I'm just as fast as them and I've got an edge that they don't have."

"What?"

"Knowing all that I've just told you, which isn't everything by any means, do you really want to know?"

The internal debate raged all over his face. Yes, he wanted to know what else was out there, but he equally wanted to wallow in his ignorance as well.

"If it has to do with you then yes, I want to know."

"Sit down. I don't exactly know how you'll take this."

Charlie paled a little and I knew he was already regretting his decision.

"Carlisle thinks that I grew something while I was healing up from the attack. They're in each of my arms and can come out if I need them."

As I explained, Charlie's eyes widened, and I decided to put him out of his misery.

_Snikt_!

His chair skidded across the floor as he bolted upward and stepped back. "Jesus, Bella!"

"Carlisle calls them bone claws," I said in a calm voice hoping it would ease his concern. "They're really really sharp. I already know they can cut through wood, and… um, granite."

I couldn't really say vampire skin, so I went with the next best thing. After Charlie put on his big boy pants and realized I wasn't attacking him, he stepped closer and held out a finger to touch the tip of my claw, but I couldn't let that happen.

_Snikt_!

"You can't touch them, Dad. You could cut clean through your finger and not even know it until it fell off. They're that sharp."

He swallowed and sat back down. "Does it… does it hurt?"

I blinked and lightly smiled. "Not really. It feels kind of weird when they move through my wrist, but it's over really quick and my skin heals over before I can feel any pain whatsoever, kind of like when I cut myself with your knife."

~O~

Charlie needed time to process that all this was real. That's why, after I received a promise from him to not go blabbing to Billy about everything, I left early and headed over to the Cullens. My conscience was eased from revealing some of what was going on to Charlie. I didn't regret doing it in the slightest. Well, maybe a little. All that stress he had ridden himself of during his vacation had been firmly placed back on his shoulders. At least he could know that he didn't have to worry so much about me anymore.

Even after eating six scrambled eggs a dozen rashers of bacon, three biscuits, and two glass of orange juice, I was still hungry. So, I dropped by the donut shop and bought a dozen mixed. Four of them were already gone before I pulled into the Cullen's drive. I definitely needed to figure out how I was going to pay for food in the future. At this rate I'll blow through my savings in a month.

God, I felt like a pig.

The door to the truck was already open before I even took the transmission out of gear. I suppose Edward was attempting to butter me up and change my mind, because the look on his face was strained. Best guess? Either he read of my indecision in Jake's mind or Alice had sprung a vision on him. I'd like to think my best friend wouldn't hang me out to dry like that on purpose. Having a mind reader as a boyfriend wasn't the best choice I could have made.

"How are you this morning, Bella?"

I gave him a thin smile as I grabbed the box donuts. "Good. Has Jasper heard anything from Charlotte?"

"No, nothing new. Would you like to take a walk? The others are in the house."

Ah. We wouldn't want to air out our dirty laundry in public. Even I wasn't that cruel. "Sure."

I frowned at the box and decided to leave it in the truck for the moment. Edward took my hand and after about fifteen minutes we were alone and out of hearing range of the family. We found a felled tree and I took advantage of the rustic seating.

"So…"

Edward fidgeted for a few moments. "I wanted to apologize for my role in what happened that day."

I nodded with no anger or resentment. Hopefully our breakup wouldn't leave us at each other's throats. If it did, it wouldn't be because of me. "You're forgiven."

"Thank you. I should have listened to your concerns. Evidently they were valid."

"Edward, I said that you were forgiven. Everyone's alive and healthy. Let it go."

"You're right."

While it felt good to hear that come out of his mouth for the first time in our relationship, it was too little and definitely way too late.

"I'm also sorry that it came to Carlisle having to use Jasper's venom to save you."

When he looked up at me at the end of his second apology with a hope filled face I didn't have any forgiveness left in me regarding what happened, but I did get why he did what he did.

"I understand why you wouldn't bite me, Edward. You didn't want me to be a vampire or lose my soul or whatever. The thing is, if I wasn't bitten nor had a needle of Jasper's venom close by then I'd be in the ground rotting right now. That's something I can't forgive as easily."

"Bella, you don't understand what it means to be a vampire."

Having enough of sitting under his gaze I stood up and shoved my thumbs in the front pockets of my jeans. "You're right. I don't. I never will now that I'm whatever it is that I am. Because of that, we can't be together forever like we had planned. Eventually, I'm going to die. I asked you and asked you to change me so that we could be happy. Well, that's done with."

He seemed a little frustrated, but didn't take it out on me. "Don't you think that's a good thing?"

I blinked and stared at him with mild disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Well," he said second guessing himself. "Yes. You're still human. You can still have a normal life."

With a sigh I backed up and sprung the claws in my right hand. Spinning around I sliced cleanly through a moderate sized tree, retracted my claws, grabbed the trunk and pushed it over into the forest.

"Does that look like anything human you've ever seen?"

His mouth hung open slightly, stunned at what I did. Apparently it was one thing to hear about my abilities through other people's minds, but to see it in person…

"No, I used to be human, Edward, and now I'm not. We had dozens of chances over the last year and a half to be together, for me to be like you. It'll never happen now. So, I'm stuck in this halfway land between werewolf and vampire, nowhere near enough to either to actually be of any good. So, what am I supposed to do now? Hmm?"

"Bella…"

I pointed my finger at him as I felt the anger rising. "No…"

Stopping myself, I took a deep breath and let it go. "You've probably read Carlisle's thoughts about me. Do the math. I'm unique and the odds of anyone else popping up with my abilities and physiology are virtually nil. I wouldn't even consider trying to make anyone like me, because it would probably kill them in the process. I'm alone and I probably always will be."

"I'll never leave you. Surely, you can understand that."

I chuckled dryly. "Edward. I want you to leave me. We're too different. I can see that now. You were right. I shouldn't have gone into the forest with you that day. I should have just ignored the odd things I saw."

He was broken and it was plain to see the hurt on his face. "I'm so sorry."

"I know. And one day I'll forgive you for not changing me when you had the chance. I don't hold onto things like this." I frowned. "Just give me some space, okay? Let me get my life back together and figure out how I'm going to pay for my new bottomless stomach."

Edward looked up at me with a suggestion, possibly an offer to pay for everything I needed, but I held up my hand.

"I can do that on my own, thank you."

"At least let me help, Bella. I'm partly to blame for this. It's the least I could do."

It was true. It was the very least he could do. "I don't want free money. Maybe Alice can help me start with some investments. I have a few thousand put away for college…"

Edward nodded. "I can do that. With her gift we can have you independently wealthy in a few short years. There's a new IPO that's out in a few weeks that's going to be a literal cash cow. That would be a good place to start off your portfolio."

I nodded. "That's sounds good. So, are we good?"

He sighed with a little more hope than he had earlier. "As long as I can be a part of your life in some way, Bella, then I'm happy."

Taking a step forward I leaned into his embrace for one final hug. "I'll be around. I'm not going anywhere."

~O~

"Bella," Esme made me jump nearly a mile as she snuck up on me, and considering my newly honed senses that's saying something. "What are you eating?"

I was still in mid-bite of a nice Bavarian crème when she asked, so I uncouthly mumbled, "Donut."

She looked at me uncertainly, like mothers always do when their darling child is disappointed in their dietary habits. I think it's in their blood… or venom as the case may be. Anyway, she closed up the box I was holding over the counter and set it aside while I pouted as cutely as I could.

"How about something healthy, honey?" she offered. "Jasper said that you've taken a shine to raw meat, but he has a tendency to exaggerate."

Looking over her shoulder to the living room I saw the shaggy-haired villain engrossed with the History Channel. Although there was the tiniest twitch of his lips that let me know he was well aware of the situation. That also gave me time to chew and swallow.

"Seeing as he's probably never cooked a meal in his life, human or otherwise, I can understand his ignorance, Esme. The word he was looking for is _rare_, not raw."

She smiled at my attempt at revenge, as lame as it was. "Well, I've restocked the refrigerator with a number of nice cuts. If you…"

I was already past her and opening the door before she finished. On the bottom two shelves were all the best cuts: prime rib, New York strip, rib-eye. God I really love this woman. Then I remembered where I was.

"I…"

Her finger was on my lips in a second. "I enjoy cooking for you, so if I don't get a chance to do so then I'm sad. You don't want to make me sad, do you, honey?

"No, ma'am."

"Good girl. Now which one do you want?"

Looking again I sighed. "Rib-eye?"

Esme giggled and pulled out two steaks. "There are baking potatoes in the pantry. That should help fill you up. Carlisle says the wolves burn though protein the quickest so carbohydrates will slow the hunger pangs and let you regulate your diet better."

Oh, that news rocks so hard. Pasta was going to be my new goto food. It was cheap and easy to make.

"And try to stay away from the empty carbs, honey. They don't do you any good."

I nodded compliantly. If a person got their happy from making me two steaks and potatoes then who was I to disagree with anything she had to say?

Twenty minutes later and I leaned back on my chair, content for the first time since I'd changed. Esme was so right about the carbs.

"Better?"

"That was the best meal, Esme. Thank you."

She smiled happily. "Anytime, Bella."

After I helped dry the dishes, I looked around. Jasper was the only one there and he was engrossed in some World War II documentary. Meanwhile, Esme was grabbing her purse off the counter when she saw my inquiring look.

"Edward, Emmett, and Rose went hunting, and Alice is in Seattle for the day. I'm off to Port Angeles to see the Brighton House. They just opened it up for tours and I just have to see how they did the greenhouses I've heard so much about."

I didn't have a clue what she was talking about, so I just smiled. At that moment both she and Jasper turned their heads toward the front of the house. Unlike vampires, it seemed as if I actually had to focus in order to hear things extremely far away. The sound of gravel being compacted by the wheels of a car let me know that someone was approaching the house.

Jasper looked over to us. "She's early."

"Charlotte?" I asked since that was the only person I knew that would be coming today.

It wasn't like I was the Cullen's activity director or anything, but they usually let me in on what was going on whether I had a say in it or not, which I didn't since I'm not a Cullen and never will be.

All three of us went out on the front porch and patiently waited on her arrival. I had to admit that I was feeling a bit nervous meeting a friend of Jasper's. Not that he had bad taste in friends that I knew of. But this lady was supposed to be the one that could train me not to slice apart my friends and family. That meant she was dangerous if she wanted to be. Then again, so was I… sort of. I mean I did have my own personal set of steak knives that came with the improved body.

After experiencing the contents of the Cullen's garage and the overpriced cars they tend to amass like some people collect knickknacks, I was rather surprised to see a tiny hot pink Mini Cooper coming around the bend. The color almost made me want to squint against the strain it was putting on my eyes.

"Oh, that's not going to resale very well," Esme muttered.

I guess she would know.

My increased vision was able to focus in on the driver and how close she was to the steering wheel. It was almost like she had both forearms resting on the thing. I caught a glimpse of her round cherubic face and pale blonde hair reminiscent of the little Volturi pain bitch, except Charlotte's hair was down and around her shoulders.

"Jasper!" she nearly squeaked as this little figure hopped out of the car.

It was like the blonde version of Alice, only an inch taller… maybe. In the blink of an eye she was up the steps and pawing my venom donor as if she hadn't seen him in years. Considering how few vampire friends of the Cullen's I've met, that isn't saying much. When she dropped back down the first thing that stood out over any other was the dull, blood red eyes.

Well, the Quileutes aren't going to be happy about this if they find out. I couldn't really say I was all that happy about it either, but I put on a nice neutral smile since Jasper seemed to be happy about her presence.

"Charlotte," Jasper nearly drawled. How he could manage that saying only her name was a puzzle. "You remember Esme, Carlisle's mate."

She nodded and bounced in for a hug before turning to me with a curious look on her face.

"And may I introduce Bella Swan, our newest little sister."

My smile turned up even sharper when I heard that term of endearment from Jasper. Sure, Emmett had been calling me that on and off for the last year, but nobody else mentioned me in such a way.

When Charlotte moved in for a hug from me, I stepped back and held out my hand. Pardon me for wanting to keep my nice scar free neck in its original form. I still didn't know whether I could be marked in such a fashion because of my healing ability, but if there was one thing on Earth that could probably do it, it was vampire venom.

"You're human," she said, bewildered. "But not quite. I'm not even thirsty around you."

I tightened my grin at the reminder as she politely took my hand. "Not for lack of Jasper's venom. It just didn't take for some reason."

Her red eyes widened and I could see the curiosity all over her face and body language. "You were bitten and you're not a vampire?"

At the end she looked to Jasper for an explanation. "I gave her a hundred milliliter injection of my venom straight into the heart. It was more than enough to turn ten humans, and there were… complications that we can't really go into."

Complications; yeah, that was putting it mildly. Werewolves, Victoria, the Volturi, a decimated newborn army; oh yeah, lots of complications.

Esme had heard it all before and I knew she was already eager to leave. "Charlotte, it is nice seeing you again. We have a room all ready for you; Jasper will show you where it is. And try not to hurt my new daughter any more than is necessary."

No, that wasn't ominous at all. While I understood I was being trained by this super ninja vampire, or whatever, I hadn't really thought about what all that might mean in terms of pain. Now that Esme had her say I was thinking that it involved a lot of pain. Joy.

~O~

"Oww!"

"You're dropping your arm too soon. It telegraphs intent that is easily countered," the little Hitler cherub barked at me. All she needed was the tiny mustache and greasy side swipe hairdo. "Again."

I heal really quick – maybe I've mentioned that before – but nothing could have prepared me for how many blunt force trauma punches to the ribs and blocks to my arms I'd received. It felt like I was so bruised bone deep that even the miraculous speed of my healing factor had a difficult time keeping up. Charlotte was relentless. I don't even know why I backed up when we first met six hours ago. If she wanted to take a chomp out of my neck then there wasn't a thing I could do about it except maybe moan or grunt in pain.

The most humiliating part was that Charlotte was wearing hot pink yoga pants with a matching crop top and there wasn't even a smudge of dust anywhere on her. On the other hand, I was a stinking mess. There wasn't a single clean place on my body that wasn't covered in dirt, fading bruises, or sweat. Hell, even her hair was still perfect. It was official: I hated her.

"Break!" Jasper yelled from inside. I just may have to bear his children for that prompt. It would probably be worth it.

Charlotte sighed and looked over at me with mild interest. – yes, I was stooped that far over in exhaustion. "This will take months if we don't continue."

"I said break! Bella needs to eat."

"And shower," I mumbled.

"Don't bother. We're picking up where we left off in thirty minutes. You're only going to get dirtier," she said with the exact same tone that Alice uses when she drags me shopping.

Since the one-sided training session came to a pause, my healing gift was working like crazy. By the time I made it up the stairs and sat at the lounge chair and card table Jasper set up, I was almost completely healed. There was an entire large meat lover's pizza open and a two liter bottle of Gatorade beside it. I chugged a third of the bottle down before diving into the pizza. Jasper must have run out to get it, because I don't even remember a delivery guy dropping it off. That was probably for the best. A random guy hearing Charlotte beating the crap out of me wouldn't be a good thing.

After I'd eaten three-quarters of the pizza I started to slow down and actually enjoy the taste instead of inhaling every tiny bite.

Charlotte stood upwind of me, mostly likely to avoid the smell of the food. "You have remarkable resiliency for someone whose heart is still beating."

I just grunted at her comment. It wasn't polite to talk with your mouth full, of course.

"Most of those blows you took would have shattered the bones of a human into fine powder, yet I couldn't crack even a single one of yours."

That was a minor revelation I realized as I swallowed. "Was that one of your goals?"

She smiled and giggled briefly. "You won't know your limits unless you test them, Bella. Fighting with broken bones would be only one of them. I've fought with missing limbs before."

My eyebrows rose as I listened.

"You have to know what you'll do in those cases. Vampires can easily reattach missing limbs, but they actually have to win the fight in order to have the time to do so."

And here I was merrily eating away as she spoke about dismemberment like it was an everyday occurrence.

"Why did you… nevermind."

"Ask," she said. "You'll never learn unless you have answers to your questions."

Gulping another third of what was remaining of my Gatorade, I grabbed the final slice of pizza and leaned back. "Why did you learn to fight like this? I mean… I know a little about Jasper's past, the vampire wars down south."

She nodded and crossed her arms. "Did he tell you that I was to be put to death by his hands?"

"Uh… no."

"When I was turned in 1938 I was an academic. I had plans to be the next Jane Austen or Marie Curie… different professions, I know. The point is that I wasn't a warrior and it was one of Jasper's jobs to clean house of those that couldn't fight. My mate, Peter saved me. We ran and he protected me. Being an independent feminist it grated on my nerves that I had to be saved by a man."

I knew that feeling quite well. In normal circumstances I could take care of myself. I hated being saved all the time. But these weren't normal circumstances.

"Once I could control my bloodlust I sought out the most experienced trainers and learned how to defend myself even from people like Jasper and Emmett, those that were born to fight. When I learned everything they could teach me I went to someone else and so on until I'd become a master at every way of fighting that could be learned."

Whoa. "Uh… how many is that?"

Her grin caught me off guard again. "I have no used for weapons fighting since virtually all weapons are useless against vampires, but I hold the equivalent of fifty-seven high degree black belts."

That boggled my mind. "What… what are you teaching me?"

"Krav Maga. It's boxing, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, Judo, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, and grappling, along with realistic fight training. You're not looking to compete professionally. You're looking to survive, brutally if need be. Am I wrong?"

"No... Well I just wanted to use my claws without killing someone accidently, but you're right."

"The claws training will come with time, once you've learned basic self-defense. You have to know your limits before introducing weapons into the mix."

Glancing threw the window at the clock on the wall I knew I had another ten minutes before we resumed and I got the crap kicked out of me again. That's when I felt something drop in my lap. Jasper was to my right.

"Call your dad. Let him know you're staying here tonight…"

"All week if he can spare you," Charlotte added. "We'll be working around the clock if you can handle it."

Oh God.

~O~

By the time the sun came up the next morning I was mentally exhausted. My body could have probably gone on, but my brain shut down. After picking myself up off the muddy ground – yes it was raining – Jasper finally called an end to my first lesson. I couldn't even see straight any longer.

"If this continues she'll be dead in her first fight," Charlotte said with little emotion behind her harsh words. "She has to push through the exhaustion."

Jasper picked me up bridal style and truthfully I didn't have the strength to care. "Constantly beating her into the ground isn't teaching her anything."

"That's where you are wrong," she said with mild amusement. "That little hellfire never gave up. Even knowing she was beat, she still made it back up to her feet."

Jasper growled. "That's all this was? Charlotte, I asked you out to help train a girl that just got out of high school. She's not a fighter."

My eyelids were fluttering as the rain shower hit my face.

"That's where I have to call bullshit. Bella has the spirit. She just needs the skills."

"Jasper, put me down, please," I said as I tried to keep my voice nice and even.

He looked at me like I was crazy, but only waited for a two count until he did what I asked. Point for him.

"Bella," a new voice called. It was Alice. "You need rest. Don't do this."

There was no telling how long she had been there watching me. Carlisle and Esme were standing at the window while Rosalie was restraining an angry Emmett by his arm. My entire adopted family was standing there watching me be beat down. Prying my eyes from each of them, I set a hand on Jasper's shoulder.

"Can you make me some breakfast, heavy on the protein?" Looking back at Charlotte she held up a single finger. "One more hour."

At least Kung Fu Barbie's outfit was getting dirty in the rain. Trust me to find sunshine behind the clouds.

"Reset," she barked. "This time move and quit standing there like an idiot."

Charlotte lunged forward with a left cross. I spun around with vampire speed and grabbed her wrist throwing her as hard as I could over my right hip. There was an explosion of mud and grass, like a small bomb went off in the yard.

Holy crap! I did it! Whoa!

Before I realized what happened Charlotte was standing over me caked in Forks' finest grime and sod. "I'm not out of the game just because I got flipped. Remember…"

I didn't even bother to wait for her to finish the sentence before I kicked out with both my feet at her knees. Something wet popped and I heard the high screech of metal singing in the air.

"FUCK!" Charlotte screamed.

Flipping to the side I rolled out of the way and watched as Charlotte hit the ground with no legs below her knees.

"Whoa," Emmett said in shock. "Did you guys know that Bella had those claw things in her feet?"

Glancing down, I saw what he was talking about, one claw for each foot. They were definitely smaller than my wrist claws, but they were there nonetheless.

"Whoops."

~O~

"Is she okay?" I asked between bites of scrambled eggs and bacon.

Carlisle nodded with a whimsical smile gracing his face. "I think you cut her pride more than anything else. Luckily the amputation was with surgical precision. She won't scar."

I cringed at the word amputation and slowly put my fork down.

"Don't worry," he said. "I explained about you not knowing they were there… you didn't know they were there, correct?"

Holding up my hands I nodded. "Totally. I was surprised just as much as her… well, maybe not that surprised, but still."

Jasper looked content as he stood in the corner with his arms crossed, like he was satisfied with what I did. Seeing as I overheard that Charlotte could beat him in a fight these days, it was most likely satisfaction at seeing her beat by a newbie. It was a total accident, of course. I probably wouldn't be able to do it again, so I guess it didn't count. Not to mention she was most likely going to hand my butt to me whenever we started back up… if we started back up.

"Quit feeling guilty about winning."

I glanced at Jasper. "It was unfair. We weren't supposed to be using weapons."

"If there's one thing I've learned in all those years fighting in the South it was winning is ninety percent skill and ten percent luck. If you don't have the luck then some unskilled hack out there is going to be lucky and you're going to lose. Charlotte left her guard down just like she said you were doing and it cost her."

I wasn't so sure.

"Jasper's right." Charlotte slowly walked in and I'm sure my eyes boggled at seeing her up and around. "I got cocky and lost focus."

Her nose wrinkled at the food in front of me and she backed away. "But now knowing you have those things in your feet, we're going to have to include some kickboxing or maybe some Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but you'd need to work on your upper body strength… nevermind. If you're strong enough to throw me into the ground and leave a gaping hole then you're strong enough for that."

I just groaned.

"How are your legs?"

She shrugged. "Like I said before, vampires can reattach limbs pretty easily. I'm just glad Carlisle was here to make sure they went on straight. That was a good move by the way. I didn't even see it coming."

Praise from the woman that had been beating the crap out of me for nearly – I checked the clock – twenty hours, minus three food breaks. It was nice.

"Thanks."

"I have to let my legs heal for another five or six hours before they're ready for real punishment. So, you get a small reprieve. Jasper, you're up."

My eyes darted to him and his raised brows. I don't think he realized he'd have to step in other than to save me.

"Charlotte, can I speak to you outside."

I frowned because I knew he'd take her outside of my hearing range and I knew he was going to talk about me. When they left, I looked over to Alice, who was sitting at the table staring at me.

"What is that about?" I asked.

She sighed and glanced away toward Carlisle before meeting my eyes again. "Jasper can't fight you."

"What? It's not because of my blood. I'm not in danger being around him anymore."

"No, Bella, it's not about your blood." She paused and looked a bit frustrated. "Just… drop the subject for now, please?"

My frown came again. "Will I find out why?"

She nodded. "Eventually; but he has to tell you, and you can't, under any circumstances, ask him about it."

"Is it bad?"

Alice smiled and shook her head. "No, Bella. It's just private stuff. That's why he took her away from the house."

I shrugged. "Okay, I can deal with that. We all have stuff we don't want everyone and their brother to know about."

"Thanks."

While the look on Alice's face was static with her placating smile, I knew something was up by the way she wasn't bubbly as she normally was. However, she had my word that I'd leave it alone; so I would.

It hadn't been fifteen minutes when Charlotte and Jasper reentered the house and when they did, Charlotte thumbed at the biggest Cullen. "Emmett, you're up."

He jumped out of Rosalie's grip on the couch and clapped his hands together loudly. "Yes! Ready to rumble, Wolverine?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not Wolverine. He definitely didn't have claws coming out of his feet."


	3. Not a Big Fan of Honey

Author's Note: Disclaimer in first chapter. Your reviews or comments are always welcome. And thanks go tho those that have already reviewed

**Chapter 3**

We started slowing down after the first week and that was mainly because Charlie was on edge because of the whole werewolf thing. Even I didn't freak him out enough with the claws as the pack does. His reasoning was that if werewolves were real then what else was out there that he didn't know about. It took me half the night to convince him that Lord of the Rings wasn't based on reality. In retrospect I think he was a little disappointed about that. He likes Hobbits; true story.

That didn't stop him from spouting off mythical creatures at the drop of a hat and watching my reaction to see if they were real or not.

"Leprechauns!"

I narrowed my eyes over my fourth bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. "Seriously?"

"If I could catch one I could get a wish." He sounded depressed at that.

"You have seen all those movies and read the stories about wishing for things, right? Anything you could wish for would be twisted, or the leprechaun would eat your face. Which is worse?"

"How about vampi…"

I held up my hand. "Enough. If you really want to know what I know then I'll tell you, but you better be darn sure you really want to know. Once the genie is out of the bottle then it can't be put back in. Be careful of what you wish for and all that stuff, you know?"

When Charlie's brows furrowed and his lips firmed I knew it was a lost cause. He was a cop, and cops are annoyingly curious by nature.

"I want to know."

Leaning back in my chair, I tongued a chunk of cereal out from behind my last molar. "Vampires are real. They are immortal and they're indestructible except by one of their own or maybe a large bomb. They drink human blood for the most part and kill their victims in the process. They can survive on animal blood if they choose. One bite is all they need to infect a human and in three days or so the human is like them. There. That's everything I know."

Charlie's mouth was partially open and hanging there when I scooped up another spoonful of cereal.

"If you don't want to tell me then just say so; there's no reason to be sarcastic."

Of course he didn't believe me.

"That's what killed those hikers when I moved here," I said.

"Vampires?"

"Yep."

"Great," he mumbled. "Guess I better stock up on garlic and crosses."

"They don't work. Nothing is the same from the stories except for the immortality, and the blood. On the plus side, the werewolves can kill them. So, Forks is a pretty safe place to live if you stay in large groups… or the reservation. The rez is really safe."

He sat there tapping his chin in deep thought while I finished my breakfast and rinsed the bowl.

"You think any of the boys from the rez…"

I had no idea what was flowing through his mind. "What?"

"You think one or two of them might want join the force… when they're of age I mean?"

An image of Seth Clearwater bouncing in place with his hand raised yelling, 'Me oh oh me!' dropping into my head at that moment. "Uh… I'll ask Jake."

Once Charlie left, I changed into one of many Under Armour bottoms and sports bras that Alice purchased for me for the specific purpose of training with Charlotte. While I wasn't exactly a fan of wearing tight clothing, especially with all the boys watching us, it was one less thing that my trainer could grab and rip off of me. Supposedly that was a big distraction during a fight. If you're too busy covering up your boobs then you're too busy to fight and you wind up dying. Charlotte must have torn a dozen loose tanks off me before I took a hint and kept pounding at her regardless if my bra was the only thing I was wearing. Emmett got a hoot out of that until Rosalie started pounding on him. Jasper wasn't pleased though for some odd reason. So he made Alice fix the problem.

I've also ruined several pairs of boots and running shoes because my foot claws pop out at inopportune moments, usually upon impact.

Yes, Charlotte stopped pounding on me after the first day and actually started teaching me something other than how to take a hit.

"Ready to go?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin. Both claws popped out of my hands and I nearly decapitated Jasper, and would have if he hadn't ducked in time.

"Jesus, Jasper! I'm putting a bell on you."

There was a polite smile on his face as he stepped back and raised his hands. "You need to start using that sensitive nose and your ears more often, darlin'. Even your home isn't safe. I learned that lesson the hard way a long time ago."

_Snikt!_

"It's the one place I thought I could let my guard down. Please don't tell me I have to be hyperaware here too."

Once the claws were away Jasper eased back into a relax pose. "I can guarantee that sometime in the future, once you can defend yourself on par with the rest of us, Charlotte will be dropping in on you for surprise training sessions."

I frowned at him. "Most people would call that breaking and entering… and assault."

He shrugged. "She likes you."

"Seriously? Even after I cut off her legs that first day? I think you may have me confused with someone else."

Jasper chuckled as I grabbed my backpack with some extra clothes. "That's why she likes you. It's been a long time since Charlotte's been caught unaware, and you've have a habit of surprising her on some days. For a vampire that's a hot commodity."

That was something I could understand. "Immortality gets boring after a while, I'm guessing."

He took my bag for me as I locked the front door and we headed to his truck. "Breaking up the monotony is challenging, but there's always college and there are a never ending amount of degrees to acquire. Though sitting in a classroom can get tedious at times, even with higher education."

That made me remember he was supposed to be away for his sophomore year. With all the Cullens out of high school they couldn't stay around Forks for much longer. People would start to notice they weren't aging like they should. My guess would be another two years at the most, and that was pushing it. Edward was turned at seventeen and despite altering his clothing choices he'd always look too young to pass for someone in their mid-twenties. Rose, Alice, and even I could play around with clothes and makeup. It gave the girls an advantage. We could last another ten years easy.

Jasper could go either way. He was big enough and rugged enough to be older, but he couldn't pass for much younger than a junior in high school, unless he was on the football team or something. Those guys always looked older than they were. Emmett could go either way.

That left Carlisle and Esme. They were pushing their time in Forks.

"You're leaving soon," I said as we pulled out of the driveway.

He glanced at me like he was measuring my attitude. "We're overstaying our welcome."

The old ache in my chest for the Cullen's disappearance last year reawakened. It wasn't as intense, because one of them was in the truck with me, but I could see the hole widening in the future.

"We're not going anywhere until at least next year. Hopping around like this attracts attention."

Well we wouldn't want that. "Nobody cares, Jasper. If your family disappeared tomorrow with a halfway valid excuse they'd be no more than a footnote in the memories of the people around here."

That got him curious. "Why do you say that?"

"It's a new millennia. Humans don't care about their neighbors anymore. They're self-absorbed. Their entire world revolves around them. Most people are only concerned with how insulting they can be on Facebook or who's having sex with whom. If someone chooses to leave then they must not have been important to begin with."

"You'd notice."

"True, but then again I'm a freak of nature."

"You're not a freak."

I snorted softly. "I'm a teenager that reads Jane Austen and Shakespeare... and likes it. Believe me, I'm a freak. I'm definitely not your typical teen. Not anymore."

"That last part I can believe, but if you're a freak then so are all the rest of us."

"At least I'm in good company."

Jasper turned his head and smiled just barely showing the whites of his teeth. I had to blink and turn away. That grin was sexy as hell and I definitely wasn't on the lookout for any more complication in my life, and doubly sure that complication didn't involve my best friend's mate. That way lays badness and I was trying to keep those kinds of actions to a bare minimum these days.

Even I noticed my personality shift ever since my change took place. I was undeniably more aggressive. Sarcasm dripped off my lips most times. And I didn't mind not being the center of attention anymore. Though that last part was hard to avoid since most of the Cullens, at one time or another watched over my training with Charlotte.

"Why are you feeling guilty all the sudden?"

"Uh," I muttered. "No reason."

When we made it to the other side of town a few minutes later the silence was starting to become uncomfortable.

"Peter made it in from California last night," Jasper said thankfully easing my tension level.

"Charlotte's mate."

"Yes."

"Uh, that isn't going to cause a problem with my training is it?"

Jasper shrugged. "Watching your mate fighting someone else always causes tension, but Peter's grown used to it over the years since Charlotte started her self-defense training. You being on the receiving end helps… him."

I noticed the pause and wondered what significance it held. There was something strange going on with Jasper since my change. Granted, it wasn't like I knew him all that well. We'd just started to get to know one another during all the mess with Victoria. However, since I had taken his venom he seemed a little harder personality-wise. It was probably just another vampire thing that I didn't know about. I swear; they hide all their secrets like they were treasure to be hidden and only doled out when they needed to purchase something. That something usually involved me twisting their metaphorical arm for the most part.

"So what's his deal?"

"His deal?"

Even attending high school didn't seem to be enough to acquaint the Cullens with teen-speak.

"What's Peter's story or if you can't tell me that, then what's a general overview of his history and or personality?"

Jasper chuckled. "All of that you condensed down into, 'what's his deal?'"

When I didn't answer and instead just sat there looking at him, he shifted.

"Peter's deal is that he was my right hand for decades. He's Charlotte's mate and they're the ones that made it possible for me to escape my maker."

I smiled and relaxed onto my seat. "Ah, well, that's good then."

"Yes, it's good. Try not to cut off any of Charlotte's body parts today or at least until he gets used to you."

"It's not like I did it on purpose!"

~O~

Peter was reclined on one of the lounge chairs located on the front porch with his booted feet propped up on the railing. From where I stood just outside of the truck door that Jasper had opened for me, it appeared as he was just as tall and well-built as his brother in arms. His hair was long, just past his shoulders and silvery-blonde. Vampires had the oddest hair colors sometimes. They could get away with it nowadays because of the strange hair colors on the market. It wouldn't be strange to see someone on the street with blue hair, so silver or copper doesn't stand out nearly as much. It made me wonder how they got away with appearing in public long before hair color was available in every corner store.

"That's Jasper's…," he said before Charlotte smacked him on the chest. There was something whispered right after, but I couldn't make it out.

Obviously I wasn't supposed to know something, so I kept cool as if I wasn't cranking my hearing up to ridiculous levels per Jasper's suggestion at the house; though I did add the misspoken words to a never-ending list of things to bring up in the future. Don't think for a minute that I had forgotten about Alice's cryptic plea for me to drop the subject of Jasper and Charlotte's whisperings outside a couple of weeks ago.

Charlotte hopped over the railing and Peter followed close behind.

"Red looks good on you," she said.

I didn't know about that. The Under Armour was fire truck red. I had a plethora of colors to choose from and I didn't want to encourage Alice to buy a specific girly tint. I learned my lesson already. Let her choose the things that didn't matter, so when it came time to make a stand on a particular style or color then my voice would carry more weight and she'd fold without a major amount of whining on my part.

"It was on top."

Wrapping her arm snuggly around her significant other, Charlotte smiled. "This is Peter, my mate. Peter, this is Bella."

_Screw it_; I was tired of dancing around the subject. Holding my hand out I grinned back innocently. "Hi, I'm Jasperrr'sss…"

He jerked to a stop midway to my hand and his eyes flicked to my escort.

"Feel free to finish the sentence," I said encouragingly.

Charlotte face tightened and I could almost feel the tension in Jasper's shoulders from two feet away.

"Chylde," Charlotte finished to the relief of the men in the area.

I licked my lips and cocked my head toward Jasper. If I didn't have my enhanced sight I would have entirely missed the millisecond of frozen facial features before they changed to something more encouraging.

"Chylde is used to describe someone that a vampire makes. Since I used my venom…"

Sighing, I held up my hand to stop him from embarrassing himself even further. "This is the part where I call bullshit. Charlotte, do you and this guy want to lie to me some more or should we get started on today's lesson?"

Peter looked on and tried his best to appear innocent with a thin-lipped smile and a slight bounce on the balls of his feet. It wasn't working too well.

"Bella…" Jasper started, but I ignored him and walked to the clearing that we used to practice.

"We'll leave you alone," Charlotte said. "I was due to go hunting this evening anyway. Might as well do it now."

All the Cullens with the exception of Alice noticeably disappeared and even she stopped to give me a soft smile before taking off. Whatever it was they were hiding it was evidently important enough to give us privacy. I knew my training would be called off for the day. Charlotte had taken to feeding in Canada and I knew from experience that she'd be gone for most of the day.

Tension in my neck built up and I tilted it to the side for relief. Even my advanced healing didn't keep away the effects of sudden stress.

Keeping my voice nice and even, though I faced away from Jasper, I spoke loud enough for him to hear me.

"So… is this a Cullen style secret or a Hale one?"

"I'm afraid I don't know the different between the two," he said carefully.

Placing my hands on my slightly expanded hips, venom induced of course. "The Cullen style is something the entire family knows about except for innocent, frail Bella, because she can't handle hard truths or she breaks down. The Hale style would be all your own since you're a Hale."

"Actually, I'm a Whitlock. Hale is an alias, so I suppose Hale is a Cullen secret." When I spun around to give him a dirty look for not answering the question, he quickly added, "It's both. And we didn't hide it because you might break down. It's something that I thought you didn't need to deal with right now. Your training needs to have first priority."

Tonguing another stray piece of Cheerio from another molar I paused before saying anything. No, I didn't have time to brush my teeth before we left.

"Okay, let me go ahead and make an official announcement for the Cullen family. Feel free to pass it along to anyone it applies to in the future, alright?"

Jasper had fallen back into a relaxed but attentive stance with both hands behind his back and legs shoulder-width apart. It looked decidedly military in appearance.

"Bella's a big girl now. If there is a situation that involves her then she needs to know about it at the earliest available time. Not when someone feels she's ready. She's had enough of that crap with Edward and Jake… and Sam… and heck, pretty much everyone with a leadership complex that she knows, with the exception of Carlisle… but it looks like he gets added to that list because of this one."

"Fair enough," he said.

Hmm. No argument. This had to be really bad news.

"So…"

Jasper licked his lips which I knew was a stalling tactic since vampires don't need freshly wetted lips to speak. "Something happened to you when I gave you my venom."

I blinked, boggled at what he said. "Yeah, I kind of figured that part out on my own."

That's when his eyes turned on me. "Something happened to me as well because of that."

I was still clueless, so I went back over everything I've learned about myself since the big day. Jasper won't train with me, he called in a favor from his old friends that he hasn't seen in a while, the venom transfers certain traits onto the ones that are turned, and Jasper was the one that officially turned me, with his own venom.

Nope, I was still without a clue. Could I buy a vowel please?

Oh… duh, I forgot the big one, the latest one. I'm Jasper's… something… Jasper's… "Oh, hell no," I muttered.

"Bella," he said as he took a step toward me and I matched it backing away.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Jasper's brows furrowed. "Uh, Bella what exactly do you think…?"

"I'm your mate?" I said incredulously. "Seriously? Do I have 'Hi I'm Bella. All Cullen vampires Mate with me' tramp-stamped above my butt or something?"

I think I made him angry. "It's not like that."

"Then please, tell me what it's like. Explain that to me, Jasper. Explain how in one second Alice is your mate and then the next she gets booted out for me… someone that's not even a vampire by the way." Turning away, I kicked at the dirt. "I knew all that mate crap of Edward's was just romantic drivel. And I fell for it. I'm your mate, Bella. Just accept it. We're meant to be together. The Fates have declared it so! Blah blah blah."

He started to say something again, but I wasn't quite finished yet.

"Alice is my best friend and there's no way I'm getting involved with her husband. No thanks. My life is not some lame teenage melodrama for someone's amusement. Besides, what makes you think that I even like you in that way? I mean sure, you're tall, and with that shirt off I'm sure your pretty lickable, and I'm positive I'd love to grab a hold of your hair and use it to move those thick lips of yours all over my body, but other than that… oh crap."

Have you ever noticed whenever you try to put something out of your mind that it supercharges the topic to the point where you can't think of anything else? Well, I just pictured me holding Jasper's head between my legs and not letting him up until I was completely satisfied. Please, don't act so shocked. Dating Edward led me to have quite the fulfilling and detailed fantasy life in my head, because I sure as hell wasn't doing anything else with him.

Furthermore, have you also noticed that as your supercharged topic avoiding mind is busy inundating you with images and fantasies that your mouth just seems to run in neutral and ramble on with nonsense until you spout something so embarrassing that you finally realize what it is you're doing?

Yeah, that.

_Snikt!_

When all else fails revert to anger.

"You just stay right over there," I said as I pointed my claws at him.

Jasper didn't even budge. "Do you see why I chose to keep this from you?"

"No!" I said. "And why isn't Alice here kicking your butt all over the place?"

"Because Alice already knows. She knew a week before your transformation. That's why she wanted me to save my venom." He said that so matter-of-factly that my anger stalled. "The night I injected it into your heart she explain it all to me. I told her she was clearly wrong this time, and I even went so far as to make a decision to deny you in favor of her. That only delayed this conversation three days in a more recent vision."

_Snikt!_

"Why? How is any of this possible?" I said with my claws retracted.

"I didn't believe it myself. That was until I took in your new scent for the first time, thirteen days into your transformation. Then I knew she was right and what we had was over."

I scoffed at that. "Vampires are not like the wolves. They don't imprint. They're not stuck with the same people for the rest of their lives."

"True."

"So, why is it you think we're mated… or whatever?"

He took another step toward me, like I didn't see what he was doing. I just countered again and kept us at least ten feet apart. If there was one thing I wasn't going to let happen again it was the whole vampire dazzling game that they play.

"It's difficult to explain."

"So is Justin Beiber, but millions of pre-teen girls worldwide seem to be dealing with their misinterpreted lesbian lust of an androgynous boy that can say the word _baby_ a hundred times in one song and have it go platinum. I think I can deal with your explanation about vampire mating habits."

That seemed to take him aback momentarily as he thought about what I just said. "Okay."

Awesome; I was on a role.

"You're right about vampires and imprinting. We aren't destined for just one person be they vampire or not. Once we're bonded then we're connected for life. We won't fall out of love with each other."

I made the connection since I already know about one vampire that lost his mate. "Like Marcus of the Volturi."

"Exactly. He'll never recover from his loss, especially if he isolates himself forever in that castle. He could potentially build a new relationship and be happy, but he could never experience what he once had with anyone else."

I nodded. This I understood. It was sad and somewhat depressing, but I got the whole once in a lifetime thing. "So, that's afterward, what about the whole beginning thing. What spurs it off?"

"Scent."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "So I could just change my body wash and you could go back to Alice? That doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the whole One Love thing."

"You asked what sets it off, Bella, and I told you, but don't assume that it's the only thing."

Before I snapped back with another caustic comment, that I'm sure he was expecting, he cut me off. "You used to smell of freesia and strawberries. The latter is your shampoo, but the former was intimately you. That never changed while you were entirely human."

That caught me off guard. I smelled differently? I mean I haven't even touched the exotic gift basket of oils and lotions Alice leaves in the bathroom every time I turn around. Frankly I don't know how she does it. You know those little fairies that clean up your house and fix things while your asleep, Brownies I think they're called. She was like a Brownie. You never see her leave things, but they pop up anyway.

"During my human life," Jasper continued. "My mother used to bottle her own honey. We had several hives in the north pasture. Did you know that each type of honey in every region of the world had a slightly different flavor?"

I had no idea where he was going with this.

"Uh, no. I'm not a big honey fan. Nothing against it; I just prefer refined sugar."

"I am," he said with a smile. "Or I used to be, rather. Whenever I made it back home while I was stationed in Galveston during the war, my mother sent several bottles with me when I returned. It never failed to bring my spirits up when times were bad."

I sighed a little. "That was nice of her."

"Wasn't it? What I want you to understand, Bella, is that the honey that was bottled from our land was produced by bees that used the local flowers, wildflowers in the same area. Some were silver leaf nightshade, blue bonnets, snow-on-the-prairie, lemon beebalm, scarlet pimpernel… well you get the idea."

"Uh-huh."

"It was always a very unique taste and scent. Nobody else in the area could produce the same unique honey that my mother could, and I've never smelled it since… that is until thirteen days after you started changing."

I blinked. "I smell like honey?"

There was a little boyish smile on his face and I felt my knees go a little weak when I saw his eyes well up slightly in remembrance. "No, Bella. You literally smell like my home. The one place in all the world that I felt safe and loved while I was human."

"Oh."

~O~

Damn Jasper and damn that Southern Gentleman charm of his. There was no way he was going to sweep me off my feet by telling me that incredibly beautiful story… GAH!

I stood in the Cullen's kitchen sipping at a bottle of orange juice Esme had bought specifically for me, basically since nobody else ate there after the newborn battle. Jasper was still outside pacing back and forth. I could hear the gravel from the driveway crunching beneath his feet. That's when I heard my cell ringing from my backpack.

"Tell me you're not a part of this, Alice."

"Ugh, I can't believe you left him standing there. No, wait, I can. I even saw it. Bella!"

"What? I'm not stealing your mate. You're my best friend."

"Yes, yes, everyone loves Alice," she said with annoyance in her voice. "He's not my mate, honey. He was my lover and we were also boyfriend and girlfriend in high school. We also posed as husband and wife during college sometimes, but we were never married."

"You're serious."

"Call it a relationship of convenience if you want. Contrary to what a certain vampire that will remain unnamed might say, not all vampires choose to live a life of chastity until they meet the perfect one for them. Both Jasper and I like sex. It's fun! It's also a really good way to keep off little horny human boy's radar if they think you're taken."

"But…"

"No buts. Shht! You may not want to start a relationship so soon after your ordeal with Edward and that's fine. I haven't seen you make a decision one way or the other, so I can't say. Just don't shut him completely out of your life because you forced him to spill the metaphorical beans today. He did what you wanted and told you the big scary secret that we all already know. So, cut him just a smidgen of slack, Bella."

I waited for a second before I said anything to see if her rant was finished. "So…"

"I'm not done yet."

Apparently it wasn't.

"Nobody says you have to go running and jump in his arms declaring him to be your stud muffin for life. If you want to do that, then that's all and good. If you don't then maybe you could just go on with what you were doing and seeing if there is anything there in the future… like next week. There's this Civil War exhibit in Seattle that I know Jasper's been looking forward to seeing, because it's supposed to have a lot of memorabilia from southeast Texas on display. Maybe you could wear that red Calvin Klein vee neck with the strappy Jimmy Choo heels. It'll be warm enough that day…."

"Alice!"

"I'm just saying."

"Ugh."

"He's free, Bella. I'm not hurt and I'm excited to see you happy again. You're getting to be a big mope lately."

"I'm not a mope. There's no moping I'm doing."

"Please. You've been moping so much that even Edward is starting to feel threatened that his middleweight mope title might disappear… Oh you know it's true, Edward. Anyway, that's all I had to say. So go on out there and tell Jasper what you've decided."

"I haven't decided anything yet."

I could have sworn I heard her growl. "I know and it's driving me crazy. Decide something already!"

"Ughhhh."

There was a distinct pause over the line as I definitely didn't mope. It was more of a contemplative stance. There was no moping.

"Yea!"

"What," I asked with the feeling of impending doom.

"You decided."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes you did. I saw it. Don't forget: the red Calvin Klein and the strappy Jimmy Choo…"

I thumbed the off button so I didn't have to hear it any longer.

~O~

Jasper was already facing the front porch when I emerged from the safety of the house. His face was stonily resolute and I hated that I was the one that made him broody. I don't do things like this on purpose. Really. Back in Phoenix I was only a single pale girl out of hundreds of tan little bimbo wannabes that had every teenage boy's attention. Nobody looked at me twice. That's probably why I hadn't had any dates during high school.

Then all of the sudden here I am in Forks and I'm every hot boy's favorite chew toy. Mike wanted me, Tyler wanted me, Jake wanted me, Edward wanted me, Quil's been giving me this creepy look over the last few months like he wanted me for maybe a night or two, and now Jasper wants me. At first I thought it was simply _new girl syndrome_. You know what I'm talking about. All the girls in Forks have already been worked over and here comes someone new, someone unknown. I could have been a closet dominatrix or maybe even a yoga instructor on the weekends. Guys really seem to go for contortionists. I mean really, why?

'Hi, I'm Bambi and I can pull my legs over my shoulders from behind.' Does that equate to some unknown sex goddess tantric act that I'm unaware of? Is there some sort of secret acupressure in that specific pose for guys when they do it that gets them off quicker?

I don't know… where was I?

See how distracted I get? One moment I'm thinking about Jasper and what I'm going to say to him, and then next, tantric sex comes to mind.

"Come on… put up your dukes."

"Bella, I'm not fighting with you."

"It's not fighting; it's sparring. And how am I supposed to get any better with you slacking off. You're the one that made Charlotte go away with all your Cullen secrets."

He held up his hands and backed off. "I told you already. Mate's… at least males of a mated couple can't physically hurt their mate. I can't raise a hand to you. My instincts just won't let me do it."

I sighed and dropped my fists. "Look, just because I said I'm not going to let this get in the way of my training and I'd think about it later doesn't mean we're mates."

Jasper shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Everything that makes me a vampire already thinks of you that way, so… no. I'm not going to spar with you."

"Can you throw stuff at me?"

"What? No."

"Why? It's not like it's going to hurt me or anything. I heal really quick and it'll help me with my reflexes."

Giving up with any chance at productivity for the day I slumped. "Fine, take me home."

"Bella, you could stay and we could…"

"If we're not going to train then there are things that I could be doing. I need to go to the reservation and talk to Jake anyway."

"What?" That seemed to set him on edge, but as soon as he read my feelings on the matter he could tell I was messing with him.

Dating an empath was definitely going to have its issues. Not that I was dating one or anything. I meant it purely as a theoretical exercise. Suddenly riding in a car with him didn't sound too fun. I really didn't want to start sliding back into the lovesick girl pattern that I was stuck in with Edward.

"You know what? Since I'm not able to get my workout, I'll just run home." Slinging my backpack over my shoulders I waved. "Bye Jasper."

"Bella, wait. I'll drive you home."

"No, seriously. I'll be fine. Thanks anyway."

When I was still human the thought of just taking off at a brisk pace down the Cullen's drive with the thought of running six miles back to the house would have been terrifying. I hadn't even stretched. Back then I would have had a stitch in my side and would have probably wanted to throw up by the end of my first mile. Luckily my healing gift wouldn't let that happen. Even after the third mile I only had a very light sheen of sweat on my brow, I was breathing evenly and there was no sign of a cramp or a stitch in sight.

Just when I entered the town's city limits was when a police car pulled up alongside me. I still kept my pace nice and even, but noticed the window was rolling down.

"Bella, what are you doing?"

Coming to a stop I noticed it was Charlie. "Oh, hi, Dad."

"What are you wearing?"

I looked down and felt a mild amount of heat rising to my cheeks. "Alice bought them for me. It's for working out. My lesson got cancelled, so I'm running instead."

He looked at me like I was insane. "Nobody in Forks runs to stay in shape. And aren't you cold?"

It was only in the lower fifties. Even when I was human that was tolerable as long as I was exercising. "I'm fine, Dad, really."

Charlie frowned much like when people do really stupid things. "Hop in and I'll give you a ride home."

"That's okay. I really need the workout."

"Bella," he staged whispered. "What about the vampires?"

I blinked and almost started laughing. "Um, there aren't any vampires here right now, Dad. Besides, remember what I have in here?"

Tapping my arm to indicated the claws I had sheathed I watched as his eyes widened. "You can…?"

I nodded. "I'm fast too when I want to be and these things slice through them just fine."

He pondered over the situation for a moment. "Then do me a favor and stay to the main roads and out of the empty lots."

"I can do that, Dad."

"Okay… well, have a nice… run." Charlie said the last part with distaste.

I love the man dearly, but he wouldn't know a treadmill from a stationary bike. The mere idea of going to a gym was anathema to his small town lifestyle. Fishing was a good enough workout for him. That brought to mind Harry Clearwater and the heart attack that took him away from his wife and two children. From that point on I decided to introduce some more heart healthy foods into his diet and see if I couldn't get him to go in and see Carlisle about a thorough physical in the near future. There was too much stress in his life, not to mention too many fried foods.

By the time I made it back home I was feeling pretty good about myself. There weren't many times that I excelled in anything physical. It just wasn't in my genetic makeup. Well, now it was, and I kind of liked it.

The red light was blinking on the answering machine and I quickly returned the call to Charlie to let him know I made it home safely before heading to the shower.

~O~

Faded and distressed jeans, snakeskin boots, a blue wifebeater, and a matching sweatshirt topped off my outfit when I headed downstairs to grab my keys. Grocery shopping was a priority on my list of things to get accomplished. I'd have to talk to Charlotte about letting me take a long enough break in training in order to make sure Charlie ate at least one healthy meal a day. I thought about making it two if I could find decent enough things so I could pack him a lunch to take with him to the station.

"Hey cowgirl, nice boots."

Turning from away from the assortment of green leafy vegetables I spotted Jessica Stanley looking over my choice in footwear.

"Hey, Jess. How's college treating you?"

She shrugged. "Like high school, except I have to study about ten times as much. On the plus side there are ten times as many cute boys to choose from. How are things between you and Edward Cullen?"

"Oh, that's right, you wouldn't have heard. I broke it off with him a few weeks back."

"That's too bad." I could clearly see that she didn't think it was too bad at all. "Sexual incompatibility?"

"Communication issues," I said rather blandly.

"That is too bad. He wouldn't happen to be seeing anyone else at the moment, would he?"

Call me petty, but I just couldn't resist. "Let me give you his number. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you."

No, I wasn't doing this to torture Edward. Really. I hope he finds his mate and that they experience joy and happiness together. I really do. He deserves some positive influences in his life for once.

"Wow, that's really nice of you, Bella. So, you wouldn't mind if I…"

I smiled back at her. "Please, call him, go on dates, bang his brains out."

Jessica's eyebrows lifted. "Wow, you've changed since graduation. Are you dating anyone new?"

My thought immediately turned to a golden-eyed tall Texan. "Uh…"

"You are! Who is it? I know it's not Mike. I've already bumped into him. Is it that boy from the reservation… with the chest and arms? Uh… Jack?"

"Jake; and no. I'm not really dating right now."

"Pashaw, I know that look. It's someone on the horizon, isn't it?"

Rolling my eyes, I knew I wasn't going to get away without saying something. "Alice and Jasper broke up."

Jessica's eye nearly popped out at that announcement. "Shut up!"

"No, really."

"You've got the hots for Jasper? That's setting your sights high… ah, that's why you're wearing boots. I knew it!" She was so excited she almost had a girly-gasm right there in Food Mart. "Going to try for a little reverse cowgirl action? Yee-haw!"

"Reverse what?" I knew what it meant, but I was a virgin and sex talk still wasn't high on my things to do list.

"We're out of high school now, Bella. You're not going to get in trouble talking about sex in the isles. You know, you ought to get yourself a set of those toy guns and a sheriff's badge, play a little cowgirl's and robbers. I bet that would get his attention."

No, ladies and gentlemen, Jessica Stanley hadn't changed one iota since graduation.

"Hello, Bella," Alice's voice came out of nowhere. "Hi, Jessica."

Jess's face went pale and somewhat scared. "Alice Cullen… uh… I gotta go. Bye Bella. Good luck with that… um, acquisition. Bye Alice. I really like those shoes, by the by."

And off she sped in retreat. It was comical in a way.

"Cowgirls and robbers, Bella, really?"

I pointed at her. "That was all Jessica and you know it, so… just don't."

Busying myself, I grabbed a bundle of broccoli.

"Charlie won't eat that. He hates broccoli. Try the spinach."

I sighed. "What are you doing here, Alice?"

"Trying to talk some sense into that incredibly hard head of yours. Jasper told me how you abandoned him at the house. He's sulking at this very moment. Have you ever seen Jasper sulk? He starts playing old Johnny Cash and Hank Williams records. Vinyl, Bella. I can't take the scratching and popping. It drives me insane."

I continued on to the fresh fruit section. "It's not my problem."

Alice grabbed a bag and started filling it with bright red apples. "I don't see what the issue is. I've already seen you two together and it's disgustingly sweet, even more than Jasper and I ever were."

"I don't live my life according to your visions. That's not fair to me, Jasper, or you. You shouldn't have to give him up because I happen to smell good to him."

"That's not the only reason and you know it. He's not my mate, he's yours. I can't believe you're going to give up on true love before you even try it out for one date. It's criminal."

"True love?" I said as I grabbed a carton of orange juice. "This isn't Princess Bride."

"Yes, it is. And that's a perfect comparison. You're just like Buttercup, stubborn and put-offish while Wesley sits there in waiting, doing everything in his power to show her that he loves her and nobody else."

Actually I thought I was more like Buttercup from the Powerpuff Girls, at least as of late. "I never said that I wasn't interested. I just said that I wanted to wait until things are more settled with my training and… stuff."

"Lame," Alice sang. "All you have to do is look back at the last year and a half to see that things will never settle down in your life. For some reason you're like an action magnet. Look, here I'll prove it to you. Go check out."

I looked down in my cart. "I'm not done shopping yet."

"Trust me. You have to go now or it will make it more difficult to do."

"To do what?"

"You'll see. Now go."

I narrowed my eyes at her. Sometimes having a future-seeing best friend can have its drawbacks. Making my way up the aisle I shifted my purse so that I could reach my money easier. When I got to the front I noticed that there was only one guy in line and he was buying a pack of gum. I was already annoyed that I wasn't finished with my shopping and if Alice was sending me on some wild goose…

A flash of chrome from the guy let me know that he was holding a revolver on the cashier. I know it was one because Charlie has something very similar in the drawer of his bedroom side table. While bullets wouldn't be able to kill me I assumed it still hurt to have a hole drilled into me by an ounce or so of hot lead. The cashier on the other hand wouldn't be so lucky. Guess who just got volunteered by a little fortune telling vampire pixie to take care of the mess?

Walking up like there was absolutely nothing wrong, I pulled my cart into the isle and started unloading its contents. That's when I felt something jab me in the side.

"Give me your purse, girly."

I cocked my head to the side. "Girly?"

He grinned and looked down at my butt. "Sorry, honey I don't know your name, so… ARRRRRG!"

Snapping my hand behind me with preternatural speed I grabbed his wrist and squeezed more than enough to send his hand off course and his bones to grating, then I whipped my hand into the bend of his elbow, dislocating his forearm.

"Oh," I said. "Ouch."

I used a little too much strength and wound up making a compound fracture out of the mess. There was even an inch long sliver of white and red painted bone sticking out of the juncture.

Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. Of course it was Alice waving goodbye with her fingers and a cute smile. Her eyes had gone black from the smell of blood in the air, so I couldn't blame her for bailing on me.

"Bella?" Jessica said as she came running up from the back. "What's all the… oh, ewww!"

~O~

"And what did you see, Jessica," Charlie asked her.

She still hadn't left my side thinking I was emotionally scarred or something idiotic I'm sure. What I didn't like was that she used Edward's number to contact Jasper despite my request for her not to.  
"That's the job of a good boyfriend," she had said.

"Uh, nothing Chief Swan. I came up right as he dropped the gun. I'm just here to support Bella in her time of need. This has got to be emotionally scarring. Oh! Edward and Jasper are here. Gotta go."

I scowled at her quick exit and the emergence of her drama queen side. "Oh Edward it was awful! There was blood everywhere and…" she didn't say anymore because her arms were firmly gripping his torso and her face was tucked safely away at his neck.

Edward looked genuinely afraid for the first time since I've known him. Finally, I've found something that vampires fear more than decapitation or fire. When Jasper looked at me I just rolled my eyes and turned back to Charlie.

"So much for me being emotionally scarred," I said.

"What's he doing here?"

"Jessica called him. I told her that Edward was free for dating and she wanted to pounce. Naturally, she took advantage of the situation."

"Chief Swan," Jasper said as he approached.

"Jasper, right?" Charlie answered.

"Yes, sir. My brother and I just came up to see that Bella was okay and if there's anything we can do to help."

Charlie's eyes ticked to me. "Well, you can do me a favor and drive Bella here back to the house. I need to get to the hospital and make sure this guy doesn't cause any trouble."

"Dad, I can drive just fine."

He tossed on his concerned father look and I pretty much bent under the pressure. "Do this for your dad, honey."

"I'll make sure she's inside before I leave, Chief."

Charlie measured him up quickly. I guess he liked the part where Jasper said he was leaving right after I was safely home. Apparently fathers eat that stuff up. "Why don't you make Jasper some lunch, Bella."

That just gave my supposed mate a reason to show off his gentle smile. "That sounds wonderful. I hear Bella's a good cook. Esme raves about her lasagna."

"Then it's settled," Charlie said with finality.

Of course nobody bothered asking me if I wanted to cook or even entertain a guy right after I was supposedly emotionally scarred.

Men.

~O~

"You don't have to stay," I said after Jasper helped me in with the rest of the groceries. "Obviously I'm not making lunch for you, unless you want me to tap a vein."

"Funny."

I just grinned placating and hoped he took the hint to leave. He didn't.

"I think it's better if I stay for a little while, just until the Chief can see that I didn't abandon you. That was his request wasn't it?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Alice set this whole thing up, didn't she?"

As he started unpacking the groceries all he did was give me a hint of a smile. "I can neither confirm nor deny her actions since I haven't seen her in the last hour."

By the time I had stored all the cold items in the refrigerator I'd had enough. "What is it you want, Jasper?"

He froze at hearing the tone in my voice and then looked up at me.

"Do you want me to just flop down on the table here and have a go at it? Will that end all this game playing?"

His body language went completely still. I supposed even a man can figure out that he'd pushed me one step too far.

"Or how about we go up to my room?" I said with heat in my voice.

"I think it would be better if I let myself out."

Before he had the change to even leave the kitchen I grabbed his arm. "Oh no… you don't get off that easy. I thought we were mates, Jasper. Aren't you going to conquer me and bite me or something? Maybe mark me so other vampires know I belong to you?"

He sighed. "We don't mark our mates like that, Bella. We're not animals. That's a stupid idea used in fictional stories…"

"So I'm stupid now?"

"I didn't call you stupid," he said with exasperation. "Ugggh! You're infuriating. Why are you making this so difficult?"

"Making what difficult? I thought you were supposed to claim me or rub your scent all over me or something. Do I need to take my clothes off. Here, hold on."

In a second I had a grip on both my sweatshirt and the wifebeater underneath and quickly pulled them off, so that I was standing there clad only in the push-up bra that was part of my new lingerie collection. Normally I chose the plain utilitarian bras because of their comfort, but as of late I enjoy the support of the push-ups.

Jasper just stood there, not even blinking.

"Well, get to it then. Rub away." When he didn't move I raised my eyebrows at him. "Is this not how you do it either? I'm sorry. I've only lived around vampires for almost two years and I still only know squat because nobody tells me anything. So pardon me if I'm making a vampire faux pas or something. Do you need more skin?"

Since I had already kicked my boots off at the door, I unbuttoned my jeans and removed them preternaturally quick until I was standing there only in my matching boyshort style panties and bra.

"There. Go for it."

What I expected was for Jasper to turn around and leave so I could get on with my life, but that wasn't what happened. In an instant I was grabbed up and pulled against his body with one hand and the other was gripping my hair, pulling my head back roughly.

"You shouldn't offer yourself like this if you aren't serious, Bella."

Jasper's voice had gone from his slight country boy twang to deadly serious. Dragging my eyes from the ceiling I met his and took in the total black of his irises. I swallowed and all of my senses jumped into overdrive. For the first time I really smelled him. The scent of his skin and the feel of his muscled arms holding me firmly in place sent my mind into places better not thought of. It was then that I felt something rigid and lengthy pressed against my abdomen.

"What makes you think I wasn't serious?"

Jasper's eyes left mine and traveled to my lips and then to my neck. "Your attitude this entire day. I'm not someone to be played with."

_Snikt!_

"Neither am I. So either get on with it or get the hell out of my house until you and your family decide I'm worthy enough to explain what it is I need to know. No more secrets, Jasper."

He bent his head down and ran his lips over up the length of my neck, pulling in my scent all along the way to the back of that sensitive place just behind my ear. His breath released and I felt goosebumps rise along my skin in the process.

"No more secrets. Come over tonight and I'll tell you anything you want to know, but know this, Bella. You'll be spending the night in my bed, and just so you know that there are no secrets, you'll be unclothed, I'll be unclothed, and we won't be doing any sleeping."

Something inside my abdomen clenched as he breathed those words and I felt myself moisten against my will.

"W—what…" I couldn't even ask it.

"I'm making you mine tonight. That's what you just said you wanted, isn't it? Feel what I'm feeling for you right now and tell me if you think I'm not serious."

An overwhelming, crushing sensation of lust washed down my body tinged with aggression and desire as well. I groaned and in that second I knew I wanted him and was already prepared to take him into me. I think I had just soaked my panties as well, because I could damn sure smell my own arousal permeating the kitchen.

The feeling of Jaspers emotion withdrew and I was left with my own. While they weren't near as strong, they were definitely robust with their own weight. My stripping down to confront him probably wasn't the best idea I ever had. At least not if I had any plans on staying a virgin by tomorrow.

"Do you doubt me now?"

I hazily shook my head. "I don't doubt that you want to have… sex with me, Jasper. I am nearly naked, and vampire or not, you're a guy."

Yes, I was still in control of myself. Barely, I freely admit, but I was still in control. I brushed the blunt side of my claw against the back of his neck.

"Now let go of me and get out of my house."

His head ticked minutely to the side to see where my forearm was and how perilously close he was to losing his head if he made the wrong move.

TBC...


	4. I will bathe in your blood!

Author's Note: Disclaimer in first chapter. Thanks again for all of you that have taken the time to leave a review or comment. They are always appreciated. I decided to post this tonight since I won't be able to post anything tomorrow. See you on Thursday for Chapter 5.

**Chapter 4**

Contrary to what you might think, I didn't immediately run up to my room in order to start getting ready for a night of debauchery with the guy that calls me his mate. I'm a modern single woman. That means when there is sex to be had then I need to be involved in the decision making. No nineteenth century born vampire was in control of my virginity any more than the Governor of Washington.

What I did do was put my clothes on with what remained of my dignity and finished putting the groceries away. Then I prepared a heart healthy casserole for Charlie and popped it in the oven. Then and only then did I go upstairs at a leisurely pace to shower and change for the evening.

Jasper must have been smoking vampire weed or something if he thought he could just say that I was going to be naked and in his bed. He probably thought that I'd just lie on my back and take him in me missionary style or something. Well, that wasn't going to happen. There would be no taking of any kind, especially none of Jessica's reverse cowgirl, or doggie. I was definitely not breaking in any new yoga moves either.

Just because I _really_ took my time to shave my legs extra smooth, and make sure I used the honey blossom lotion Alice left for me didn't mean anything beyond the fact that I wanted to look good for nobody but myself. It definitely wasn't for any misogynistic blonde vampires that may or may not make me want to not wear any panties for the evening. Panties were definitely going on and staying on. The black lace panties, with the high sides that dipped down in the middle, right where what little hair I hadn't shaved off in the shower, were staying on all night. Well most of the night anyway. I was planning on coming home after all and changing again. The only reason I wore the miracle bra, and pushed my breasts together enough to create the illusion of another cup size was because it matched the panties. That's the only reason.

My mind was firmly set on going over to the Cullen's place and questioning Jasper on anything I could think of that would finally put to rest the issues of their secrets. By the morning I planned to be totally satisfied… with the knowledge I would gain, of course.

My cell phone chirped at me and I checked for a text message. It was predictably from Alice, most likely with a clothing choice that would turn Jasper on, no doubt. Well, that wasn't happening. I'd wear what I wanted.

"You look nice," Charlie said as he sat down to dinner.

I was wearing a little black dress in velvet with tiny off the shoulder sleeves. The only reason I was wearing it was to state to Charlotte that I wasn't there for training, but for conversation. Since I was in a dress, I obviously couldn't train. The heels were to enforce the message. Who could fight in three inch heels? Definitely not me.

"Thanks. I'm going over to the Cullen's tonight."

Charlie raised an inquiring eyebrow. "Not…"

"No, Dad. Jessica has her sights set on Edward. Besides, I was the one who broke it off with him."

"Right," he said pointing his fork at me with a satisfied nod. "You broke it off with him. So, you and Jasper, huh?"

I froze in place for a microsecond, but it was all the time Charlie needed to tell something was going on. Sometimes it sucks to be the daughter of a cop.

"Nothing has happened between Jasper and me."

"I didn't say it did, Bells. I'm just wondering why your undershirt was lying in the corner over there. You normally don't strip in the kitchen."

_Crap! _

I could swear that I put it on when Jasper left. Come to think of it, I didn't remember taking it off when I got in the shower.

"It was warm in here with the oven on. I just took it off and set it on the counter. I'll make sure to…"

Charlie's lips tilted up. "I'm teasing you, Bella. You're an adult now and well aware how to use contraception devices. Just make sure I'm not a grandpa this time next year and we'll call the subject closed."

My face had gone blindingly red; I could actually feel the heat radiating off my face, shoulders, and chest. I briefly wondered if I could blush anywhere else.

"I—I… I'm not dignifying that with a response."

He just gave me a quick smile and kept on eating. He and I both noticed, I'm sure, that there wasn't a denial anywhere in my retort, and saying anything further would effectively dig my own metaphorical grave.

"I'm leaving."

Right when my hand touched the doorknob I heard one last dig at me. "Should I expect you home tonight?"

~O~

"Well, somebody looks nice tonight," Charlotte said as I slid out of my big red truck and adjusted my dress. "No training I take it?"

I shook my head and shouldered the purse I pulled off the seat. Normally I don't carry one, but my backpack would look really tacky with the dress and I needed something to carry my wallet and my notebook. Vampires may have eidetic memories, but I just had my human brain to remember things. Granted, I've had an easier time with recall since my turning, but if I really wanted something to stick I still used paper and pen so I could study it later. Also, it doesn't hurt to have records of these things so I could refer back to them if I'm unsure about certain facts.

"Jasper and I are having a come to Jesus talk."

Charlotte snorted cutely. I kind of hated that about her. She did everything so cutely. She walked, talked, moved, and even kicked my butt repeatedly, all looking very cute.

"Very well. That'll give me more time to welcome my man home."

Eww. Peter wasn't bad looking. He was tall like my Jasper, but not exactly as tall, and he was built, but not quite as nicely, but the thought of him and thinking of Charlotte and him having sex… just, eww.

I tried to push the image I had of the two of them doing it, out of my head. Sex had absolutely no place in my brain tonight. This was purely academic, and personal. Answers before pleasure… actually answers, no pleasure. Although getting the answers will make me pleased and that's a form of pleasure. I just want it to be understood that I'm talking about any other kind of pleasure, like sweaty and rough up against the wall or falling off the bed kind of pleasure; definitely not that kind.

Charlotte was gone and the front door opened before I made it halfway up the front steps. Jasper stood there in his overly tight jeans, cowboy boots, and a dark fitted western shirt that showed off just enough of his chest to make me wonder what else he was hiding underneath. He obviously wore all of this thinking that I would be distracted by his rugged look. However, I undeniably wasn't. When I reached the top of the stairs I watched him take every single inch of me in, from my silky smooth legs all the way up to my lightly made-up eyes. His jaw shifted and at that moment I knew I had him unbalanced.

"Why are you feeling so satisfied, Bella?"

Crap! I forgot about his stupid empathy gift. How could I be so reckless? It was probably better to play this off as something I planned so it'll look like I didn't have anything planned. Did that make any sense?

"A girl likes to have the work she's put into an evening appreciated, Jasper. I'm sure Alice likes it when you compliment her? I thought you were supposed to be this legendary Southern Gentleman. I'm keeping count, you know. This is twice you've blown it."

Jasper's jaw shifted ever so slightly again. I could tell I was getting to him and I didn't have to have some special vampire gift to do it either. That's me, Bella Swan, Vampire Annoyer. It's a step up from Bella Swan, Vampire Groupie. There have been times since my change that I've actually like my new personality. It's tough and I very rarely take crap from anyone any longer. In fact, I don't remember any time since I woke up that I have taken crap from anyone. Excellent; Bella Swan: she doesn't take crap from anyone. It was my new motto.

He cleared his throat and tilted from his hips a few degrees to show respect. I'd seen this move of his a hundred times when he defers to Alice on some esoteric subject.

"You look beautiful tonight, Bella. May I escort you inside for my… inquisition?"

I took his arm without any more ado. It was best to pace these sorts of things. If I came off too bratty then the evening wouldn't go my way. Besides, I had other things to be angry about; important things.

"Is that what you think this is, Jasper? An inquisition? All I ever wanted was the truth and not to be treated like a porcelain doll. That's kind of what ended my last relationship in case you don't remember."

Someone muffled a laugh from the living room that we were still several feet from. If I had to guess, it was probably Emmett. Who else would find amusement in the chopping down of their brother so much?

"Do we have an audience tonight or is this a group participation thing?"

We stopped before entering the living area. "Do you have a preference?"

I shook my head minutely. "As long as I get my questions answered without things held back, for my own good of course, then the whole family is more than welcome."

He seemed relieved I'd said that. It meant everything wouldn't be put on his nicely broad shoulders. It was the truth from my angle though. I really didn't care how I got the information and if Jasper didn't know the answer to my question then somebody else might. They might also expand on any answer he gave me. The more the merrier.

"Well then, Alice, and Esme wanted to join us. Carlisle said he'd like to be here as well, but he has a shift at the hospital tonight."

That was too bad. There were advantages to having the longest lived vampire in the room to mine information out of. Having Alice involved was uncomfortable, seeing as how a lot of what I had to ask involved relationships. How in the world was I going to be comfortable with Jasper's ex, my best friend, in the room?

"That's fine. They're more than welcome."

"Yea!" Alice cheered from around the corner before she pounced into view. "This is going to be so much fun, Bella. You come up with some of the best ideas."

What was she talking about? I never have any ideas, much less good ones. Esme distracted Alice from squeezing me to death, thankfully. I love Alice like a sister, really, but sometimes she's just a little too exuberant.

"Hello, Bella. I thought we might do this in the living room, so you would be comfortable."

I nodded grateful for the suggestion. "Thank you, Esme."

Jasper glared at Emmett momentarily, but it was Esme who laid down the law. "Emmett, if you're going to participate or just sit there then I must insist on decorum. This is going to be stressful enough on Bella and Jasper without your snickering."

He held up his hand and extended three fingers. "I'll be good. I promise. Besides, you and me are the only other mated pairs here."

I scoffed. "You were never a Boy Scout."

Emmett cleared his throat unnecessarily, but he did it with his boyish grin on display. "I was an Eagle Scout, thank you very much. If there was a patch then I earned it. Rosie even likes it when I wear…"

"Emmett!" Rosalie screamed his name from upstairs.

"Sorry babe!"

"That doesn't make any sense. Didn't they teach you to stay away from bears?" I referred to, of course, how he was injured enough to warrant Carlisle initially changing him into a vampire.

He scrunched up his nose like he was trying to remember. "I don't think they had a patch for that."

"Bella, would you like something to drink?"

I stole the only single armchair in the room before Alice forced me to sit with Jasper on the love seat. Her pout was proof she didn't see me make that decision until the last second.

"No, thank you, Esme."

Reaching into my purse I pulled out a blank steno pad that was once part of Charlie's collection long before everything went computerized in Forks. Uncapping my pen, I leaned back in the chair and noticed everyone was staring at me. Oh right, questions!

"So, uh… Mates."

Esme smiled softly. "What would like to know, dear?"

"Everything really. Something other than, 'You are my mate.'"

She turned her head to the once Southern Gentleman who was slowly palming his face in embarrassment.

"Really, Jasper? Nothing?" she said.

He tried lamely to defend himself. "It's not like that."

"Ohh," I said, almost chuckling. "It's definitely like that."

"I explained to you about your scent."

"You're right, I apologize. Let me rephrase. 'You're my mate. You smell like honey."

Emmett slapped his hand over his mouth and literally vibrated on the couch. His eyes were sparkling with mirth. Though I could have sworn I heard Rosalie laughing from upstairs.

Esme rolled her eyes and then directed them at me. "There is truth to the fact that we might recognize our mates by scent in the beginning. Where our specific trouble lays is that we also have Alice who has seen your future. Normally, the two vampires involved are initially attracted to each other through scent, and then they start a relationship much like human couples."

"Vampires date?"

Alice took this one after she daintily crossed her legs at the knee. "You can call it dating. Obviously things differ. I mean you can't really go out to eat in the traditional sense. Vampires are territorial when they feed. Let's just say that they spend time together and develop a relationship."

I nodded with understanding and jotted some notes on the pad. "So, what's it supposed to mean. When Edward and I dated he said that we were mates, but that obviously wasn't true. Does that mean he was wrong or…"

I left that one hanging because I didn't want to come right out and say he was a liar or anything. I truly believe that he thought we were mates.

Jasper leaned forward surprisingly; at least to me.

"We've discussed this with Carlisle and he thinks it's because you're his singer that he believed you were supposed to be together. Actually, most of us didn't even blink when he said you were his mate, and maybe that was one of the reasons so many vampires have a hard time finding their other half. They run across their singer only to kill them in a fit of blood lust."

"That's depressing," I muttered.

"Luckily, it's probably not a true theory. Another hole in that same theory is that we're supposed to only have one true mate, and Emmett has already come across someone that sang to him, yet Rosalie is his mate."

Emmett gave me a thumbs-up after Jasper finished.

"Okay," I started my partial summary. "So Jasper smells me and wants to date?"

He nodded.

"What comes after that?"

Alice grinned and looked at Esme, but it was Emmett who couldn't restrain himself any longer. "Bow chicka bow wow!"

"Emmett Cullen!" Esme snapped.

I raised my hand. "That's okay," I said as I tried to stop my giggle before it started. "That was probably delivered better than the alternative."

Esme glared at him while I defused the situation. "So, basically it's a traditional relationship after that."

"No, not at all," Alice exclaimed. "Vampires mate for life, Bella. It's a much truer relationship than anything even Hollywood has put together. You'll never fall out of love and it only gets stronger the longer you live. Jasper will never cheat on you, he will never even think of another woman like he thinks of you. He will be totally devoted to you until… well, forever. There is no vampire divorce, because there is never a need for one."

My eyes slowly turned to Jasper who was looking at me rather intensely.

"Are you saying that's how you feel about me right now?"

He visibly measured his words very carefully before he spoke. "Not exactly. It takes two people to create the bond. It just isn't magically there. As you've noted we aren't like the wolves with their imprinting. There should be some sort of attract by this point on your side, but with you not being a vampire and instead something other than human, we don't exactly know what to expect. Do you…

Jasper shifted uncomfortably. "Has my scent changed for you?"

I shrugged. "It's not like I've gone around sniffing all you guys, and you've always kept your distance from me until recently."

He nodded in understanding. "Of course. Perhaps a practical demonstration."

Jasper stood and closed in on me. I panicked slightly and glanced at Alice who was smiling with encouragement. She wasn't exactly making it easy for me to ignore the whole thing in hope that it would just go away. Instead of being a fraidy-cat, I stood and waited to see what he was going to do. His hand came up and touched the side of his neck.

"Just smell here and see if there's any reaction on your part."

Who does this? Me apparently. Because of his height, there wasn't an easy way to do this. I was almost a full foot shorter, so I had to reach up on the balls of my feet and Jasper had to stoop slightly, enough to set his hands on my hips and for me to reach over his shoulder for purchase, so I wouldn't fall onto him. Anyone in their right mind would see we were just short of an intimate embrace and considering where my face was going, they would be right.

I frowned and then leaned into sniff lightly. There was that leather smell that I remembered from the day of my awakening. The cologne that I couldn't place was a little different. Leaning in further, I closed my eyes and tried to place the scent, breathing deeper. My head was starting to spin and I had an overwhelming desire to let my tongue flick out for the tiniest taste, but I pulled myself back.

"Um… yeah." Rocking back slightly on my heels, I let Jasper steady me by my hips before he released me and stepped back. Sitting was probably a good idea.

My thighs rubbed together slightly and I knew I needed to keep them firmly clenched unless I wanted the entire Cullen Clan to know how he affected me.

"Another indicator is our emotions." Jasper stopped and sighed. "May I show you?"

I blinked. Oh, right, empath. One of these days I'm going to remember. "I think I got enough of that yesterday.

His eyes dropped for a second before darting to the others. "That was something different."

Lust, yes, I'm well familiar with the emotion.

"What I'm feeling now is something I've been experiencing since your awakening."

"Um," Alice nodded and smiled softly at me before I gave my assent. "Sure."

Before I could even take a chance to breathe I was filled with the most profound sense of longing I'd ever experienced. It was as if every crush I'd ever had was condensed into one event. There were the beginnings of love, but definitely not the full blown affection I had even toward Edward. It was too soon for that, because we barely knew each other. However, there was one other thing I felt amongst all the chaos of emotion Jasper sent my way. It was a pull directed straight at him. It felt as if I was on one of Charlie's fishing hooks and Jasper had a firm grasp on the rod and reel. The thing that was hooked was somewhere deep inside me. I told Edward once that I didn't care about my soul if I actually had one.

Well, I can tell you that it's there and it's broken, like half of a ten thousand piece puzzle looking for the other half to fill in all the odd shapes along its jagged edge. I knew for an undeniable fact that he held the mirror image to my puzzle. It was right there waiting, longing, screaming to be united; if only it could close the space up then it could be whole, and that was a terrifying thought.

What would it mean to join the two sides? Would I even be me anymore or would I be part of him. Well, that was the whole point, wasn't it? See soul mate, mate with soul mate, and create a nice soul mate batter to stick in the proverbial oven to bake for eternity. I was really getting tired of hearing and saying the word _mate_. From now on I'm calling it… pizza.

No, I'm not quite insane… yet. A few more seconds of feeling all of these emotions and I probably would be. Pardon me for not being about to eat mine and Jasper's portion of the giant soul pizza. See, it sounds a lot more palatable than _mate_. Am I right? I'm thinking it would visually be like a super deluxe with all the veggies and meats on top. Green Peppers, for instance could represent how we both feel about holding hands, and pepperoni could be vanilla sex, because vanilla sex is the most used position and pepperoni the most used topping. I think I'm really starting to lose it here. Canadian Bacon and Pineapple anyone?

Then it all went away and I could breathe. Actually I could hyperventilate.

~O~

"Just breathe, Bella," Esme said as I was bent over at the waist huffing raggedly into a large plastic freezer bag.

"I'm… wheeze… never eating pizza again… wheeze…"

"Jasper," Alice whined. "What did you do? Pizza?"

"I swear; I have no idea what she's talking about."

Tossing the baggie to the side, I stood up way too quickly and swayed on my heels. It was a stupid idea to wear them. Emmett caught me until my equilibrium stabilized a few seconds later.

"You're my soul pizza," I said weakly.

Esme started to fidget and vampires didn't fidget. "Maybe I should call Carlisle."

"No. I'm fine… just… I didn't think it was real."

"Didn't think what was real?" Alice asked.

"Our souls."

That got her attention. She leaned in inches away from my face. "What do you mean?"

Swallowing, trying to make sense of exactly what I experienced I looked at her. "I felt it… them… and I kind of saw them too, but not really. It was more like actually knowing they were there."

"You saw our souls?" Alice panicked for a millisecond and then ran out front and yelled, "Edward! Come quick!"

I was wondering what happened to my erstwhile ex-boyfriend. While I noticed his absence earlier I thought it was because of the topic covered in the meeting that he'd made himself scarce. It isn't often that the love of your life discusses her pizzaing to someone else. And no, I'm not changing the name of that back to the old one.

In seconds Edward was there in the living room and Emmett was lowering me back to the chair.

"Jasper showed her what it felt like at the beginning of a mating and something happened."

I looked up at Edward as Alice explained what occurred then I realized why she wanted him there in the first place. Edward thought he didn't have a soul anymore, that it died or went to hell or whatever when Carlisle turned him. Yeah, out of all the people in the Cullen family, Edward would benefit the most in knowing that he wasn't already damned.

"Bella," Jasper said as he patted my hand, not really knowing what else to do. "Just tell us what happened."

With a nod I relaxed. "I felt your emotions like I always do when you do your thing. Except somewhere along the line I felt it… a tugging, a pull. And then there was the puzzle."

"Are you sure you don't want me to call Carlisle?"

A small smile lifted my lips at Esme's caring. She thought I'd finally spilled all my marbles. "I'm fine. It was really there. Think of a really big puzzle, that's the only way I know how to describe it. It's split apart in two sides down the middle, but not quite. The edges are all jagged and very distinct, so that they could only be joined together by their other half."

Edward was really confused. "Why did you call me, Alice? I can't…"

She smacked him on the shoulder. "She's talking about our souls, Edward. She saw them! You're not a soulless monster you big idiot! I told you, but does anyone listen to Alice when she isn't having a vision? That would be a big no. I told you we have souls and now I can say I told you so… so blea."

Even when she stuck her tongue out at her brother, Alice was cute.

"Are you sure you weren't hallucinating."

"No, Esme. I'm not really sure, but what else would it be? It was almost tangible, and it wasn't an emotion, so it wasn't Jasper's gift that I was experiencing."

With that revelation out in the open, I reluctantly looked at Jasper, who was now kneeling beside the chair.

"I guess you were right. I'm your soul pizza, but if I hear one crack about the smell of anchovies I'm unsheathing my claws."

"Pizza?" Edward asked.

Alice bounced in place and slipped her hand under his arm. "I think Bella has changed the word _mate_ for _pizza_. Maybe she had an aneurism explode?"

"I'm just tired of the word _mate_. It's so overused in today's literature and media. So I changed it to pizza instead. Anyway… so, love of my life and it never gets old or stale. I'll never get tired of you forgetting to pick your boxers up off the floor…"

Jasper was staring at me intensely the entire time I was speaking. "I don't wear boxers or any underwear for that matter."

Did I really need to know that at this point in our relationship? Not that we had a… oh screw it. It's not like I can deny it any longer. That ship has sailed, that song of denial is over, and Elvis has left the building stealing any excuse I had to say it was all bull-hockey.

"TMI, Jasper."

"You're the one that wanted the full unvarnished truth."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "About vampires in general not about your personal lack of civilized hygiene… what?"

Everyone was looking at me and I would have sworn if they were human they would have been blushing, except for Emmett.

"Vampires don't need to wear underwear," he said with a smirk on his face. "But Rosie sometimes wears it to bed for other reasons."

Okay, I really didn't need to hear about their sex life, so I just tried to ignore the last minute of my life and sighed loudly.

"Fine, is there anything else I need to know about vampire pizzaing habits? Rules? Do's and don't's?"

"We're protective of our mates…" I shot Jasper a look and he eyed me oddly. "We're protective of our pizzas… this is stupid. I'm not calling you my pizza."

Alice snorted a giggle and covered her mouth.

"Protective how?"

"That's the reason I won't spar with you."

One of my eyebrows lifted at that. "You refuse to teach me how to protect myself, so that you can protect me? That's kind of misogynistic of you, honey bunch."

Esme saved his pale sparkly behind. "He means that we can't physically or mentally harm each other if we're… companions."

I see what she did there. Apparently Esme was anti-pizza as well.

"Ah. Okay. That's why you called Charlotte."

"Exactly."

My eyes ticked over to Edward and I refused to let myself get dragged into an argument about how Edward nearly destroyed me in the forest before the Cullen clan decided to bolt out of Forks last year. Apparently, nobody had a clue that something was odd regarding how he could do that to his pizza. Water under the bridge and all that.

"Tell her about the sex," Emmett said with an almost joyful exuberance.

"The sex?"

Esme didn't even flinch when it was brought up, so that was my first warning sign. Well, that and Edward disappeared, leaving behind a whoosh of air displaced from the living room.

Jasper cleared his throat unnecessarily. "That's how the bond is finalized… though sex. After that…"

"We're stuck with each other," I finished for him.

"Bella!" Alice protested. "That was completely unromantic."

"Nothing about this relationship or my life since I woke up has been in the least bit romantic. Pardon me for keeping with the trend."

"Jasper! No poetry? No flowers? No chocolates? No banjo?"

What? "Banjo?"

"Jasper plays the banjo."

I looked at him. "Never ever play the banjo for me. I don't need the _Deliverance_ flashbacks. Okay, anything else?"

Everyone looked at each other and shrugged.

"Great. I'm going home now."

That was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

"Bella! Jasper! Romance!" Alice stomped her foot childishly.

I glanced back at Jasper who was looking decidedly uncomfortable. Right… romance. Whatever. Obviously, he never got the memo during Southern Gentleman class back in Dixie.

"Goodnight everyone and thanks for coming clean." I left 'finally' unsaid, but I'm pretty sure it was implied.

It was when I was halfway to my truck when he decided to show up. I was expecting an appearance, but not so soon. Alice probably nagged at him. Like I've said before, I love the girl like a sister, but what in the world made her just give up on Jasper like that I had no idea. While Edward and I dated I would have pounced on any girl that even thought about taking him away… well, probably not pounced. In fact I most likely would have just glared at her and then nothing else. It felt like I was a totally different girl, the timed lamb before and the angry cat after the change. Roaw! Ffft fft!

I just raised my brows waiting for whatever it was he wanted to say.

"Bella, I… Alice is right. I've been doing this all wrong and I've got nobody to blame but myself."

Okay, so far so good.

"Would you like to…" he paused and then opened his mouth as his eyes rolled, stupefied.

Jasper had no clue how to date a human type person in the twenty-first century.

Unsolicited advice is always best. "If the words dinner and a movie leave your mouth then I'm leaving."

"Would you like to go danc… um, no, not that either."

At least he could remember I can't dance.

His phone buzzed and it looked like it was Alice to the rescue with an emergency text message. This family would literally implode if she wasn't there to guide them every step of the way. Instead of commenting I just looked at my watch. It didn't work, but that was beside the point.

"Bowling?"

My eyes lit up. "Bowling?"

Seeing a semi-positive response from me he jumped on it quickly. "Would you like to go bowling?"

"Um…," I'd never been before. "Sure."

That seemed to brighten his evening. "Excellent. I'm going to go hunt down the closest center."

"Now?"

"Uh," he paused unsure. "Yes?"

His phone buzzed again. "Tomorrow?"

I mildly glared at him. "Tell Alice that I'd be happy to accept a date for tomorrow. Goodnight, Jasper."

Men.

~O~

It may sound really weird because Forks isn't the most progressive town in the world. I mean there are ten bait and tackle stores along the main drag, and only three clothing stores. This doesn't include my old job at Newton's. They don't even have a movie theater. However, they do have their very own bowling alley. I figured we'd have to go all the way to Port Angeles at least.

I thought jeans and decent sweater would be best since I wasn't looking to do anything other than go on my first real date. That was sad. Here I was, nineteen, and I hadn't been on a single date in my life. Even Edward, the supposed love of my life, at one time, had never taken me out on a traditional date, meadows, and dinner in Port Angeles notwithstanding. Those were more of times of opportunity than planned outings, alone with my honey.

With a sigh I dipped into my makeup, which consisted of an eye pencil, mascara, and a tube of neutral lipstick. High maintenance I wasn't, still. That was something to be thankful for at least.

When I had both rims of my eyes colored in I reached for the mascara and froze. Right on the edge of my listening ability I heard noise from the back of the house. It was muffled to be sure, but it was definitely the sound of two… maybe three people approaching from the forest. If it was Jake or Edward coming to check up on me I might be having words with my erstwhile suitors.

Spinning in the chair, I looked out the window and didn't see anything, but that didn't mean there wasn't someone there. Foliage in the Olympic Rainforest is thick. Someone could be perched in tree, watching me, and I'd never know. That prompted me to open my window and glare as menacingly as I could toward the tree line.

"Who's out there?"

I nearly crapped myself when a short blonde haired girl that I was quite familiar with walked out from the brush. She was wearing a dark cloak and was bookended by two much larger guys. There were a few things I knew. By the cloaks and the face of the girl I knew them to be Volturi, by the delighted look on the girl's face I knew Jane was very happy about something, it was well past the time I was to be turned into a vampire and here I was, not a vampire, and lastly, this was my execution squad.

My hands flew across my cell phone with a text to Jasper.

_911 Volturi Home_. Hopefully he'd figure it out and I wouldn't be a bloody smear on the ground outside.

"Hello, Jane. I'll be right down," I said with as little emotion as possible.

"Do hurry, _human_. I have others to punish tonight."

_Crap_.

The Cullens were probably next on their list of things to burn for not making sure of my progress into sparkliness. My sweater got tossed in lieu of a wifebeater, which was much less expensive to replace if I survived. I decided to go barefoot as well. There was no time to leave Charlie a note describing how sorry I was for being a pain in his butt this last year. Jane would be ripping off my door if I wasn't punctual. Stalling wouldn't help my case anyway.

I closed the kitchen door behind me and stepped onto the damp grass, still wet from the shower the night before. Jane and her goons were in the same position I'd left them.

"I was assured you were to be turned when we visited last."

Dropping my hands to my sides I gave her an inquiring look. "When was that?"

"The day the Cullens destroyed the newborn army."

"Well, that's true. They brought me in their house and Jasper pumped me up with his venom."

Jane looked at me oddly. "Then why are you not a vampire?"

I shrugged. "Didn't take? Carlisle is still researching it. Nobody knows why yet."

"Obviously this has something to do with their diet. Felix."

Before he even tensed to move I held a hand up. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Jane's eyes narrowed and her lips turned up into that sadistic smile I saw her wearing when she was torturing Edward in Italy. "Proceed."

By this time I was well used to deciphering the blur that is vampire motion. Spending time with Charlotte made me well aware of what they could do. So I wasn't surprised when Felix, the largest of the three went into motion. His hands rose to grab my head and left shoulder; presumably to spread them apart long enough to either bite me or rip my head off. But I'd already had my days of burning. I didn't need any more.

_Snikt!_

As his hands came down I crossed both mine and raised them in a quick arc. Both arms fell to the ground after bouncing off me because of the centrifugal force built up from the attack. I spun to the side and plunged my claws into his torso, jackhammering my arms so that he was so full of holes in a short manner of seconds that he collapsed screaming while my claws split his head from his neck.

In a short second I was already back in my normal prepared attack stance.

"I warned him."

Jane's eyes were wide and she even took a single step backward. "What are you?"

It wasn't my fault that she set herself for the follow up line so well. I'd probably never get another chance to say the words so I took it. "Your worst nightmare."

Okay, it sounded more cliché coming out of my mouth, but apparently Jane had never watched any of those movies that used it, so I was cool and I didn't seem to be so much of a moron.

"Demetri," she growled.

I almost felt sorry for him. He looked down at Jane with a twinge of fear in his eyes and then back up at me. The look on his face said it all. If I could take down the biggest of them then what sort of chance did he have?

It was a given that he stepped forward much more cautiously than his Volturi brethren, and I was almost all out of surprises. I had no false hope that I'd be able to beat a seasoned vampire fighter that now viewed me as a lethal threat. I wasn't some human to toss around or bite like they expected. If Jasper didn't get here soon I was pretty sure that this would be known as Bella's Last Stand.

I had three advantages going into this. He didn't know exactly what I was capable of, even after my short battle with Felix. He didn't know about the claws in my feet, and I actually had weapons which extended my reach a little and kept him at bay. That meant I'd have a little more time until the Calvary arrived. Hold on… the Calvary were Union soldiers not Rebel.

_Oh crap… I'm screwed._

"I'm giving you the same warning I gave your buddy. You don't really want to do this, Demetri. This is your last chance to run or I'm slicing and dicing with your body parts."

He really looked back at Jane; I kid you not. I saw the determination on her face and knew the moment Demetri turned back around he was going to rush me, so I dropped to the ground and used the strength in my arms to pivot my body and legs around.

_Snikt! _

It was horribly sloppy, but it was also effective. My foot claws sliced cleanly thought his shins like they weren't even there. When Demetri fell forward he instinctively held his hands out to catch himself, but my wrist claws were already arcing up into his throat. It was then that I realized what Jane's plan was. Wait until I was otherwise occupied and only then attack me.

Her hands raked across my face, digging in and rending flesh. I think I may have lost a tooth or two along the way, but I was more concerned with slicing wildly at anything in front of me. She screamed, and then the attack stopped with her falling on top of me in pieces.

Something gooey flopped on my chest as I tried to scramble away. Eww, vampire brains. That was enough for my stomach to rebel.

~O~

"Oww!"

Carlisle pulled the gauze pad away as I flinched. "Sorry."

"No… go ahead. The venom stings worse," I said with a grimace.

"I'm impressed. You took down Felix," Charlotte said as she leaned against the kitchen counter with her arms crossed looking at Carlisle nursing my wounds. "There aren't a lot of vampires… I take that back. There aren't _any_ vampires that can say that since everyone he's fought is dead."

"He thought I was human," I said through gritted teeth since my skin was still knitting itself together.

It seems as if fresh venom slows the process a little.

"Ah."

"I took off his arms before he could touch me."

"Well that explains that." As if I was totally inept. "How about Demetri. He's no slouch."

"The spinning sweep thing you were teaching me."

"Oh, excellent!" Charlotte clapped. "It works!"

I glared at her, but Carlisle cut me off before I said anything in reply. "You're not scarring, and I can see your missing teeth are coming in nicely. This healing ability of yours is amazing, Bella."

Jasper chose that moment to enter through the back door. He saw that I was almost back to normal and I could view the tension dropping off his shoulders. "I had a chat with Felix."

My eyebrows rose. I could have sworn that I cut off his head.

"We can even heal our heads getting lopped off." At my small nod he continued. "He was pissed to say the least. Volturi this, pain and dismemberment that… he even threw in a _rue the day_ comment before I burned him. Yeah, there's no way this isn't coming back to bite us in the ass."

"Well, I'm sorry for not laying down and having my body torn limb from limb."

Jasper growled. "That's not what I meant."

"He means that Aro won't stand for his best fighter, and his best tracker, and the person he relies upon to torture vampire kind to go without being avenged," Charlotte reiterated with a confirming nod from Carlisle.

"Without Demetri, the odds of Aro finding us are reduced considerably. However, we must move post haste. I think perhaps the Northwest Territory?"

Jasper shook his head. "Aro would bet on us going to ground. I would suggest south. Blend in a large city. That way if they come across us they can't do so in large numbers or they'd attract attention."

"You're not thinking about Texas are you," Charlotte asked with a note of tension in her voice.

"No, not that far away. I'm thinking Vegas or L.A."

"I'm not leaving," I said to nobody in particular. They all looked at me like I was crazy. "What? I'm not leaving Charlie, not to mention all the other people that live in this town to get overridden by vampires. It's not going to happen."

"Bella," Carlisle said in his placating tone that I was getting real familiar with recently. "Once the Volturi realize we are not here they will leave and try to find us through use of their guard. They won't be able to use the other covens or even the nomads because of the stigma of losing their best people to a coven of vegetarians. Believe me; Aro is egotistical to a fault. He won't want their reputation ruined over this. However, if we are here then we all will be made an example of in the worst possible way."

The last of the muscle in my face finished knitting together and I could move my jaw properly for the first time in… fifteen minutes? That's how long all of that took from start to finish?

Charlie didn't deserve any of this, but I wasn't about to lead a bunch of stark raving mad vampires to Forks if I could get away with it.

"Dammit." I closed my eyes and wiped off a chunk of Jane's brain from my shirt. It plopped wetly as it hit the floor. "What if we can get him to stay in Volturi?"

Carlisle's eyebrow rose slightly in interest. "How would you accomplish this?"

I shrugged. "Prank call. You got his number?"

"Bella…" Jasper warned, but I waved him off and took my cell out.

Carlisle rattled off an overseas number and I waited through all the weird dial and ringing tones for it to connect.

"Volturi Industries," a girl with a said sickly sweet voice. "How may I direct your call?"

"Aro."

"One moment please. May I ask who is calling?"

"Isabella Swan." I figured it wouldn't hurt to be polite to the receptionist. She didn't do anything to me and I figured she was probably human anyway since her voice didn't do that weird wind chime thing that all the girl vampires seem to have going for them.

After another click Aro's simpering voice virtually echoed out with excitement. "Isabella! It is a delight to hear from you. How is vampire life treating you?"

"Aro. You set your goons on me."

"Now, now. There's no need for hard feelings. It is one of the duties of the Volturi to make sure that all humans that know about us are either turned or disposed of. Surely you already know of this. We even discussed it here in the castle."

"Oh, I know. But you see when you sent Jane, who you know hates me because her gift doesn't work on me, she tends to sic Felix on me instead of being all politic."

"I see," he said, but I didn't buy that he was unaware of what he was doing when he sent her.

"Do you? I really don't think you do, because I'm not with the Cullens anymore. Edward and I broke off our relationship. So I'm here all by myself and your three goons came by to pay me a visit."

"Hmm, you sound very coherent for a newborn, Isabella. Might you be lying to me?"

"I'm not a vampire, Aro. The venom didn't take. That's one of the reasons Edward and I broke up."

There was a slight pause as he digested the information. "The venom didn't take? I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with this Americanism."

I cleared my throat. "I was pumped full of vampire venom and it didn't turn me into a vampire. Is that clear enough? It turned me into something much more dangerous."

I saw Jasper by the door palming his face and shaking his head.

"I see. May I assume that Jane and her companions are no longer of this Earth?"

"They're burning as we speak. I was disappointed in Felix. I heard from the Cullens that he was to be feared for some reason. It only took me all of three seconds to make him armless and take his head."

Something popped loudly on the other end of the line.

"Demetri… well I wasn't even able to break a sweat. And Jane was just pitiful when I removed the top of her head and her brain fell out… I'm sending you the dry cleaning bill by the way."

"Yes, yes, it's all quite amusing. Well, Isabella it looks as if my guard will be coming for you."

This was the critical point in the conversation and I didn't know if my acting abilities were up to the challenge. I started laughing. Then I laughed some more.

"Oh Aro… you're killing me here. I thought Felix was your best? But it doesn't matter."

The sound of grating teeth made me pull the phone away from my ear for a moment before he asked. "And why is that?"

"Because, Aro… I'm coming for you."

That seemed to take him aback. "What?"

"You, Aro, and anyone that gets in my way. However, if everyone stands aside while I rip you to shreds I'll let everyone else live. Or if anyone there happens to rip you to shreds and leaves your head in a box in front of the castle then I'll just turn around and start touring Europe."

"You listen to me you insignificant girl…"

Click. I hung up on him.

"Christ…" Charlotte said. "I think you might have pissed him off."

"Here's hoping that he was taking that call in the throne room." I looked up at Jasper and he'd finally taken his hand away from his face. "It's not a bad idea to have those around him question his leadership capabilities especially with Jane out of the picture. I doubt a coup will be staged, but it will definitely put Aro on edge enough to question the loyalty of those around him."

My phone vibrated and I looked down at the caller ID. It was the number I just called. I clicked the green button and put the phone up to my ear.

"Swan's Vampire Disposal: Would you like your vampires fried or fricasseed?"

"Cease this inane blathering, Isabella. You have made a grievous error in judgment if you think you can intimidate me, Aro of the Volturi!"

"Are you kidding me? Have you even stepped out onto the street in the last century?" I countered. "You're a coward, Aro. You send all your little minions all over the world and sit there nice and safe on your throne. You don't have the balls to actually face me yourself."

"Royalty does not roll around in the mud with the commoners."

"Ah. I see. And who made you royalty?"

"I did," he said menacingly.

"Okay, I want to be a princess. You may call us Princess Isabella of…Earth." I figured Princess Isabella of Forks just didn't have the right kind of intimidating ring to it. If I was going to be pretentious then I was going for the gold. "There I'm not a commoner anymore. Now you can face me like a man… or a little weasel. You know, you have little weasel features, with the overbite and the pinched look on your face like you're constipated all the time."

"This is ridiculous!" Ah, I had him screaming now. "I won my title by battle millennia before you were even conceived. You can't hope to even comprehend of the power I hold."

"I'm pretty sure I can comprehend it. I did graduate high school you know. You had others do your killing for you and then you said one day, I'm King! Well, I won my title a better way. I killed the best you had in single combat and now I'm a Princess."

"GAAAHH!" There as a loud crash on the other end of the line.

I covered the phone and whispered to the others, "I think he's mad."

"Your blood! I will bathe in your blood!"

"Now you're just being gross, because you know I'm right. And by the way, try not stealing a line that was in some cheesy movie. It makes you look cliché. Oops, too late, coward."

Everything went still and quiet on the other end of the line. "Why are you tempting me to come and wipe out your existence and every person that has ever known your name?"

We were already back to tricky situation time.

"Because, I know you are no threat, Aro. I already destroyed your assassination squad in less time it takes me to change my shoes. I figure the entire guard will take… what, maybe ten minutes to run through before I take your head for a decoration for my Christmas tree. I've got some shopping to do and then I'm heading out to Europe. I'll see you soon, Aro."

Click.

"Can we go bowling now?"

"Princess Isabella?" Jasper said with caution.

"Too over the top?"

Carlisle stood and closed up the first aid kit. "You might have delayed the Volturi's appearance here. However, we still need to leave Forks, Bella, no later than tomorrow morning. Pack whatever you really need. We can buy anything else whenever we get settled in Los Angeles. Jasper will stay behind and help you with anything."

My pizza seemed surprised that his suggestion to live in the city was taken. That made me wonder exactly what goes on in Carlisle's brain. Sure he makes all the monumental decisions for the family, but shouldn't he listen to the guy that has actually made war on other people. Well, in this instance I guess he did. Maybe that's why he's in charge. Nevermind. Maybe I took a knock to the head during all that mess a little while ago.

"Charlie?" I wasn't aware I was holding my phone to my ear before I heard his voice on the other end of the line. "I need you to come home… now."

~O~

"Do you really need a photo album, Bella?"

I glared at Jasper and looked to the two boxes of things I decided I couldn't live without. "Yes. Don't nag me, Pizza Boy."

"Bella?" The yell came from downstairs. Charlie had arrived.

"Up here, Dad!"

"We'll wait outside," Jasper said as he headed to the window.

"No, stay."

He was puzzled, but complied with my wishes for the time being. Charlie was in his police outfit along with a police issue handgun. That was probably bad planning on my part. It didn't take a degree in physics to figure out why the two boxes were sitting on my bed.

"Bells?" He said before looking at Jasper and glaring his Chief of Police glare.

"Dad, you know Carlisle; this is Jasper. He's my… um, boyfriend, I guess."

My pizza had a pleasant smile on his face right up until the _I guess_ portion of the evening.

"Boyfriend?" Charlie said gruffly.

"Yeah. He's also a vampire."

"Bella!" I think I may have forgotten about telling the Cullens what I had told Charlie.

"Sorry, Jas. He sort of knows everything already."

The hand on Charlie's gun was most likely for his own comfort since he already knew it was useless against vampires.

"What's this all about, Bella?"

I shoved the photo album down in the box and closed it up as I started talking.

"I killed three vampires in the back yard about an hour ago." I watched as his eyes widened and then dart to the window. "They were sort of royal guards or whatever for the vampire world. The Cullens and I are leaving Forks for now so we can make sure they don't come here and start killing people."

"The hell you are. You can stay right here. I can get on the horn with the Governor and…" He already saw the futility of that call as he leaned against my dresser and ran his hand through his hair. "What can I do?"

Jasper shook his head. "Nothing. If people come here that look like me, pale skin…"

"I know what a vampire looks like, son. I'm staring at one."

"Right. Just tell them we left and took Bella with us, which will be true."

"Where… nevermind. It's better that I don't know."

"I changed my mind. I'm not leaving," I said. "You guys are welcome to go."

"Bella," Jasper said most urgently, like he was my overbearing husband or something. "They won't hurt your father. He's too much of a public figure, and he grew up in this area. People won't believe a bear attack."

"Yeah, that's probably true. But if Aro shows up and touches my dad then he'll know that he knows and that'll put the kibosh on leaving him alive, so… no."

Carlisle nodded sagely. "Bella is right. The odds that Aro will show up in force are too good, especially after the death threats Bella delivered."

I shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

"If we were moving then it would have been."

Jasper tapped on the side of his face as he mulled things over. "I'm thinking massive battle showdown in a large clearing, like with the newborns. We can get the wolves involved again, maybe call in some of our friends as backup."

"Lame," I said to the table since I was the girl, and nobody ever listened to what I said in the first place.

"What?"

"It's already been done," I explained. "I'm sure Aro's already seen Jane's memories of the fight. He'd be ready for that."

"Not about the wolves. She wasn't there by that time."

Narrowing my eyes at him like I thought he was stupid I sat up in the chair. "Are you telling me that Jane or any of the other Volturi that were there didn't notice the massive stink of werewolves all over the place? Aro is supposed to be ancient, right? What are the odds that he's never seen, or read the minds of someone that has never seen a wolf? I'm thinking not so good."

Carlisle pondered that for a moment. "If Caius knew they were here then the Volturi would already have attacked _en masse_."

"Are you saying that Aro tells his brothers everything?"

Charlie was awfully quite throughout all of this, but chose that moment to speak up. "I'm thinking Guerrilla Warfare. We have the home field advantage. Your type is afraid of fire, right? I have friends in the National Guard. I could get ahold of some napalm…"

"Charlie, no," Carlisle said with a shudder.

Go Charlie! I kind of liked his idea, but that would bring a lot of unwanted attention to the area.

"How about Claymores?"

Carlisle shook his head. "Swords are useless against my kind."

"Not the sword, the anti-personnel mine! How old are you anyway… swords."

Jasper had understood. "No. They wouldn't harm us. The most it would do would be to knock someone down or if they were close enough knock them away."

"Oh… well, I'm all out of ideas."

"Thanks, Dad."

"No problem, Bells. Just doin' my part."

~O~

"Aro is in hiding," Alice said, seemingly confused. "Why is he hiding?"

"Bella may have gone all Rambo on him." Jasper looked somewhat proud when he told her.

"Rambo?"

His voice went lower and shifted to a bad New York accent. "Aro… I'm coming for you."

Emmett guffawed. "That's what I'm talking about! Our little Bella is channeling her inner action movie heroes."

I swear I've never seen the movie he was talking about. I'm more of a romantic-comedy watching person. Give me Reece Witherspoon anytime and I'm happy. Musicals on the other hand… well, I could have probably sent Aro screaming for the hills with my rendition of My Big Fat Greek Wedding songs. Maybe I could call him back.

"I don't… I don't see him coming."

"Really?" Okay, even I was stunned at that.

Alice looked boggled. "That doesn't mean he won't be coming, just that I haven't seen him decide to do it yet."

"Hold on," Emmett said. "Jasper's tiny Bellzie-bub scared away the Volturi? Seriously?"

"I'm not Jasper's, yet."

That made my pizza man frown.

"Just a matter of time, and opportunity. Once he gets you alone, in the forest, in your room, in his room… heck, maybe even in this room…," Emmett stopped for a second and raised an eyebrow at his brother. "Dude, don't do it in here. I play my video games on this carpet. I'd be smelling that for weeks. No offense, Bella."

"I do shower on occasion."

"It's not _that_ smell that soaks into the carpet…" That was about all he got out before Alice smacked him on the arm. "Hey, I'm just saying."

I cleared my throat before the conversation delved any deeper into the gutter. "Maybe he's not the one that's going to claim me. Maybe I'm going to claim him? Did you ever think about that?"

"Oh… wow. That's hot." A weird look crossed Emmett's face and then he smiled. "Gotta go. Rose is calling."

"Bella Swan, the love doctor." Alice rolled her eyes. "I'll keep an eye on Aro's decisions. You and Jasper go be romantic."

He was standing there with his hands firmly planted in the front pockets of his jeans. "So…"

"So…"

"Do you want to come up to my room?"

"Seriously, Jasper? Can we use Emmett's grunts as mood music?

He cleared his throat. "Your room?"

"Charlie is there planning World War III. I think he just wants to blow something up. I blame riding around in a cop car for this. Too many drunk teenagers and too little NCIS. And don't even suggest the forest, cowboy."

He swaggered over… seriously, he swaggered. It was like watching one of those old westerns that Charlie put on Saturday afternoons. You know the ones I'm talking about: the cowboy walks into a saloon, all dusty and rugged looking like he's been on the trail all day, got a nice five o'clock shadow working, shirt is ripped a little exposing some tanned skin. He tips his hat up once he hits the bar and orders a shot of whiskey.

Yeah… I think my panties are wet. Crap.

TBC...


	5. Just One Bite!

Author's Note: Disclaimer in first chapter. I tried the 10,000 word chapters, because releasing them in 1000 words is absolutely lame. But apparently people don't like that, since only a handful are actually reading, much less reviewing or commenting. So, I'll try the 5000 word chapter release and see if that solves the problem. As before, your comments or reviews are _greatly_ appreciated.

**Chapter 5**

I woke up in a room that I wasn't familiar with. The bed was king sized and the sheets were at least a billion thread count. My eyes went left and then right. Hotel. Expensive hotel. Virginity gone. Rephrase. Virginity spectacularly gone. I'm such a slut. See what happens when a sexually repressed teenager gets involved with immortal vampires. It was a receipt for debauchery waiting to happen.

Oww!

Looking down I see a set of perfect bite marks on my shoulder. It was red and kind of puffy.

"Son of a bitch!" I growled. "No, Bella. We don't bite our mates. _We're not animals_. Lying sack of Ughhh! Oh, eww. What is that weird taste in my mouth? Oh god…toothbrush, I need a toothbrush."

I threw the sheets back and stumbled out of bed, almost falling twice on the way to the _en suite_ bathroom. "Oh, nice."

Thank god for complimentary toothbrushes in overpriced hotel suites. After brushing, rinsing, and spitting three times I declared myself rid of the nasty aftertaste of something I'm not going to mention. It was the only thing I could think of that might taste that bad. A girl hears stories, you know? At least the ones Jessica always told at the lunch table before Mike arrived anyway.

Taking in the stickiness of my body I immediately turn the shower on and was amazed that the hot water blasted out from the first drop. I don't know why I was surprised. Rich people always get the good plumbing. Oddly enough when I stepped into the spray it was just another hot shower. There weren't any odd aches or pains and for once I think I was grateful… well, I was grateful for it the day before when I almost had my face torn off, but this is different.

Oww!

What I was wondering was why didn't that bite mark heal?

Taking the complimentary fruity smelling bath gel, I poured it directly on the wound and rubbed it in. It was probably Jasper's venom still in the wound. What the hell? I could have taken another fifteen day nap and had new claws popping out all over the place. Let's not forget the burning. Once was enough. What would possess him to bite me like a wolf in heat?

"Bella, you okay?"

Speak of the devil.

"Just fine, honey bunch," I said sweetly. Oh he was getting his.

"Is there a reason you're really angry right now?"

He sounded like he was just outside the bathroom door. I was getting pretty good at measuring distance with my hearing since I had it turned on eleven all the time now.

"Oh, no reason, sweetie. I, uh… stubbed my toe." _Like I'm going to stub your testicles into your abdomen just as soon as I get out of here_.

"Um, okay. I ordered breakfast for you. They just brought it in. You like Eggs Benedict don't you?"

Ugh… I hate hollandaise sauce. Why in the world would you pour that nasty stuff on a perfectly good poached egg? "Sure do, sugar bumps."

"Are you sure?"

"Jasper."

"Yeah, Bella?"

"Close the freaking door!"

~O~

My rugged cowboy pizza man was lounging across the breakfast table from me with his shirt half unbuttoned and a Mona Lisa smile on his face. Can guys have Mona Lisa smiles? Isn't it unmanly or something? Maybe I should use a different adjective. How about… lustfully sated? Yeah, I just bet he is after everything I did last night in claiming him. The trouble was I had a hard time being mad at him when he was sitting there making me want to start the whole night all over again.

There were some nights that I really wished that I could blame on a drunken stupor, but apparently with my new metabolism it was really hard to get drunk. I know. I drank an entire bottle of really expensive champagne on the flight to… oh crap we're in Vegas! Quickly, I glanced down to third finger on my right hand.

_Whew_!

Panicked there for a second. No, we didn't elope, or at least there were no cheap wedding chapel rings on my finger. That was a relief. I had no intention of getting married at nineteen years old, thank you very much. I had oats to sew and men to date when I went to college… whenever that is. Oh wait… I was pizza'ed forever. There were not going to be any more men in my life. Just Jasper. I should look on the bright side. Mike could have been turned by Victoria and he could have been my mate.

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

"You okay, Darlin'?"

"Yeah. I just thought of something truly disturbing." Waving it aside I set down my fork. "So what's the plan?"

"Plan?"

It seems vampires don't really plan anything unless there's war involved. Edward always had general nonsensical plans like _I'm never going to turn Bella_, or _My, that cougar sure looks tasty. I might eat that_. It appears as if Jasper was cut from the same bolt of cloth.

"Yeah, like what are we doing today? Have you spoken with Alice? Has she seen anything about Aro?"

He leaned back in the chair and put a toothpick in his mouth. Unless he's just eaten a desert deer and had to pick out some fur from his teeth I didn't understand why… oh, it's because he looks damn sexy and even more cowboy rustic.

"I spoke with Carlisle. There is still no change with the Volturi. He encouraged us to spend the week here."

"So… vacation?"

"Vacation."

"Quit smiling like that. We had more than enough sex last night."

Cowboys don't pout very well. "Are you hurt? You said not to hold back, especially when you were up against the wa…"

"Lalalalalala," I almost yelled when I plugged my ears with my fingers. "I'm not listening!"

I received a minor glare for that. "Darlin' you've got no reason to be shy or modest. It was the best night of my life."

Well, considering I was a virgin that doesn't say much about Alice's performance in bed. Maybe I was just an early bloomer, or maybe it was all the time I spent on the internet researching the Kama Sutra and how to deliver a high quality blow…

"I thought we might go gambling," Jasper said cutting off my train of thought. "Then maybe search for engagement and wedding rings."

My eyes bulged. "Whoa there, cowboy! Nobody said anything about weddings."

"I thought…"

"And as far as marriage proposals go, that pretty much sucked. Try again next decade."

That announcement seemed to pull Jasper out of his relaxed posture. "Bella, we're mates. There's no going back now. Especially after last night."

I narrowed my eyes at him and pulled aside my robe to show him the healing bite mark he'd left behind.

"Yeah, I kind of got the message. I thought vampires weren't animals."

I swear, if it were possible for him to blush he would have. "I apologized for that. I don't know what came over me, but I believe you returned the sentiment."

He pulled aside his western shirt and the wifebeater underneath and I spotted a small set of bite marks that would probably be equal in size to my mouth. Ooops.

Hold on. "I thought vampires only scarred when venom was involved."

"That's right. So, I'd highly suggest you not bite any humans. Evidently, your salivary glands produce venom or something very similar, enough to leave a scar. Your teeth are almost as sharp as a vampire's as well."

Rolling my tongue around in my mouth, I prodded one of my canines. They didn't feel sharp. Weird.

"Why hasn't your skin healed yet?" he asked.

"I think because it wasn't cleaned out right away. My face took longer to heal from Jane's claws and her brain dripping on me until Carlisle flushed the cuts. I washed it out well in the shower, but it's still healing slowly."

He seemed to mull over that for a minute while I finished my juice and decided to get dressed properly. Wearing only panties and a robe left me at a distinct disadvantage if Jasper decided to become frisky again. Not that I would mind, but I'd never been to Vegas before and I'd like to see some of it. We can always have sex later. Yeah… I actually said that after nearly a year of begging Edward to take me in the biblical sense. I'm fickle; leave me alone.

Opening up my suitcase I frowned at its contents. "Uh, Jasper? Where are my clothes?"

Inside were mounds of lingerie of every conceivable type, all small wisps of fabric that was obviously only meant to be worn once.

"You have four suitcases that Alice packed."

Oh no. Please no.

Opening the other I found near the closet I cringed and pulled out the first thing on top: a pair of black leather pants that looked three sizes too small for me.

~O~

I felt ridiculous. Jasper nearly swallowed his tongue when he saw me even though it was one of the more tame outfits in the bunch. I was seriously going to have a word with my _best friend_ when I returned to Forks. Black leather pants, calfskin at least, so they were really soft and supple. Then there was the black cami that showed off an inch of midriff even though I kept constantly tugging it down, and a pair of black three inch court shoes. It was too hot to wear anything else over the top. Even in the fall Vegas still swelters. The nights are a lot cooler than normal I'd already adjusted to Forks frigid weather, so sixty degrees was almost sweltering.

"I think I need to get Alice a nice thank you card," Jasper mumbled under his breath.

"I feel like a hooker."

"You look fantastic."

"I'm your pizza. You're supposed to say things like that."

Jasper shook his head and leaned in to kiss my forehead. "Trust me. I'm going to have trouble concentrating on the tables tonight."

Well, okay. I guess it doesn't suck all that much. I fidgeted until Jasper handed me a clutch purse that was faintly bulging.

"What's this?" I popped it open and it was mostly full of hundred dollar bills and a few in smaller denominations. On the other side was my ID and a black card with the word NOIR on the front. "Whoa."

"The ID has been updated so you're twenty-one and can gamble. The other is a casino membership card. If anyone gives you any problems they can run that and you'll be treated like a princess afterward."

I tried handing everything back. "Jasper, I can't take this money. It's too much."

"You're my mate. That means what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine. You'll have to get used to it. Your name has already been added to all my accounts and property and I'm not taking them off."

Eying him didn't help. "I don't have anything but a rusty truck and an old laptop that needs servicing. Well, unless you're into women's lingerie. Apparently Alice loaded me up for the trip."

"Funny. Let's go, pretty lady."

I was carded every five feet, but when the guys in the loud purple jackets spotted that black card they profusely apologized and complimented me on my youthful appearance. Whatever.

Slot machines are fun! Jasper parked himself at the blackjack table and had a very large pile of chips in front of him whenever I looked up from whatever machine I was playing in the High Rollers section. About three hours and four strawberry daiquiris later my butt started to go numb. No matter how many times I pressed the stupid button, I lost. It was getting embarrassing. Half the cash that was in my clutch was gone and I hadn't won more than twenty dollars on any particular spin. When I asked the passing drink server if the machine was broken she just smiled knowingly at me.

"Just keep with it, Miss. That's usually when they pay off the biggest."

Of course they're paid to say exactly that, I suppose. Just put another thousand in, it'll eventually pay off. Right.

Then the machine exploded.

Well I thought it did. Periodically I'd hit certain symbols and the machine would go into a bonus round, start beeping, and playing a catchy tune while all the reels spun madly. Since I had never gambled before it was exciting to me anyway. Right in the middle of the bonus round, it hit something odd and all the symbols were the same all the way across—Wheel of Fortune was the symbol. Then the sirens went off and more lights started flashing.

I leaned back from the machine and looked up at Jasper. He had his eyebrows raised at me and I could see he was staring at the big marquee above the games that showed what the current jackpot amount was. It's one of the things that lure players in, I'm sure. I figured the odds of someone actually hitting it was in the hundreds of millions, kind of like the lotto.

Instead to the constant scroll of the jackpot amount, it was frozen and flashing.

One of the purple coat guys came up beside me.

"Congratulations, Miss. May I see your ID and we'll get your winnings processed."

"What?"

He pointed upward. "Your winnings."

My pizza man was standing beside me in seconds. "Give him your driver's license, Bella."

"But… all I did was push the button, I swear. I didn't break it on purpose."

Jasper had an amused smile on his face.

"This is her first jackpot," he said as he took my ID out of my clutch and handed it to the purple coat guy.

A small crowd started gathering to find out what all the noise was about and I started getting nervous.

"Jackpot?"

"Bella, darlin', you just won eight point three million dollars."

~O~

Of course it couldn't be easy, like them just writing a check or something. Five guys descended upon the machine I was playing, checking it for tampering or something, but eventually they conceded I was innocent little Bella who's luck had finally turned to the good side of the Force. Who would have ever thought that would happen?

While they were messing around with Jasper taking care of all the paper work I went over to the Mega Bucks machine which is one of those old timey looking ones that don't do much other than spin its wheels and take your money. My nerves were shot, adrenaline was easing off, and someone dropped off another daiquiri. I almost ordered some tequila, but decided the nasty taste wasn't worth the effort if I couldn't get drunk.

I stuck a hundred dollar bill into the hopper and waited for it to process. Jasper looked a little giddy for some reason. I guess it was because I didn't have an excuse about not having anything anymore. Even after taxes and whatever payout deal he made with the casino or the IRS I'd still walk away with a pretty hefty sum.

"You doing okay, honey?"

I looked at the cocktail waitress and smiled weakly. "It's been a weird few months."

Hitting the Max Bet button, I watched ten dollars disappear into the machine.

"Well, it looks like your luck is changing. Congrat… oh my gosh!"

Looking back at the machine I spotted three golden eagle symbols with Megabucks written underneath line up across the reels.

"Oh crap."

~O~

"You don't do anything small anymore, do you?"

"Jasper, I swear…"

He held up his hands and surrendered in amusement. "If you like I can have this deposited in your bank account and Alice can play the stock market for you… not that you need to. I mean we can hit a few more casinos this week and you can put the rest of Vegas in the poor house."

I swiped at him, but the sucker moved his hand away at vamp speed.

"Mrs. Whitlock, if you can sign here we can release the funds to your chosen bank," the casino manager said with a polite smile.

That was the thing. Jasper had already planned for us to get married and my ID already said Isabella Whitlock in dull black lettering. Cocky bastard isn't he?

I scribbled my new signature and the man offered his hand to shake. "Congratulations again and have a pleasant stay."

I declined being in the picture they have of the major winners and Jasper had them release only my first name to the press. Someone winning eight million, while not being a daily occurrence in Vegas, wasn't by any means unusual. However, winning the twenty-one point three million on Mega Bucks rated a small article in the local newspaper and a blurb on the nightly news.

Needless to say, I was staying away from the high payoff slots from now on. Maybe I'll learn how to play roulette.

Jasper took the receipt and tucked it away. "Want to play anymore?"

"No… big time, no."

"You're probably right. If you win another then I'm sure we'll be strip searched. Let's go take in a show."

The dancing show at the big pyramid place was lame, and I was promised a chance to see the Cirque du Soleil while they were in town. Instead we went off to the casino and I watched as Jasper played Texas Hold'em. I suppose he couldn't resist.

While I was flipping through a magazine and occasionally looking up at my pizza man, my cell vibrated.

"Hi, Alice."

"Hi, Bella? Enjoy breaking the Bellagio this month?"

"You're funny."

"Sorry to interrupt your mating honeymoon, but you and Jasper need to come home. We've had an incident."

I cringed, but then I smiled. "Hey there was an incident and I wasn't anywhere around to blame it on! So what happened?"

"There was an altercation between Edward, and Embry Call. Jessica was there too, and … this is just too stupid for words. Jessica found out though Embry, when she was at First Beach for the day with her friends, that Edward is a vampire. So she's over here day and night trying to get him to change her. It's becoming really annoying."

Glancing up at Jasper I saw as he was rolling his eyes at me and calling for the dealer to cash him out.

"Jessica's constantly whining. Edward is hiding in his room and Rose is persistently laughing."

I sighed. "Can't someone… I don't know, whack her on the head or something?"

"Emmett wants to, but Carlisle said no." It was an odd thing to hear Alice's voice when she's annoyed. "I had a vision that Mike Newton will become involved at some point and if you're not here to make Jessica see reason then Mike, Tyler, Lauren, and Jessica all become human drinking vampires somehow and our secret gets exposed, the Volturi come and there's an epic battle in a clearing somewhere."

"Not again…"

"Yep, you wind up biting Angela, and Ben… say, did you know that you carry a modified type of venom in your salivary glands? Anyway, they turn into the same thing you are with the claws and everything. It's all a big mess."

I was mind boggled. "And we can avoid all of this if Jasper and I come home?"

"Right."

"We'll be on the next plane out." There's no way in hell that I was allowing Mike Newton of all people to become a vampire, much less Lauren.

"Wait… damn! Now Mike winds up turning the entire Forks football team into human drinking vampires!"

What? "All because we took the first flight out?"

"Yes. Ugh!"

"Okay, we're taking the second flight out."

"…"

"Alice?"

"Okay, that's fine. Much better."

It must really suck to have visions of the future. "How about if we just turn Jessica and feed Mike to her as a first meal?"

"No. Jessica cannot become a vampire. It totally screws up my visions. Everything devolves into chaos."

"It was a joke, Alice."

"You're not funny, Bella. Come home so we can fix this. I think I'm getting a headache."

~O~

Jasper and I took the second flight out of Las Vegas and wound up in Port Angeles before driving like crazy to Forks. My pizza man drives worse than Edward. Since it was four-thirty in the morning he did it with no headlights so the cops couldn't see him. Have you ever driven through forest roads, at night, with heavy cloud cover? It's black, like pitch black because there are no light sources like stars or a moon, or anything. Even with my enhanced vision I had trouble making out that yellow stripe in the middle of the road.

"Slow down. You're going to get us… well, me killed."

"I can see perfectly fine."

"And I can't. I'm going to be seriously ticked off it I have to pull a muffler out of my stomach just because you want to shave two minutes off your best travelling time from PA to Forks."

"How would you get a muffler stuck in your stomach? That's not even practical. It's on the bottom of the car."

I glared at him. "I just won two major jackpots right after one another and you're talking to me about my luck not being practical?"

The engine revved down and I saw the speedometer drop to a nice leisurely eighty miles an hour. "Good point."

When we hit Forks city limits we had to drop to the speed limit because of all the speed traps. Dad was the worst about his force filling quotas. They don't say it publically, but I still hear him on occasion bitching out one of the rookies over the phone for not meeting the two hundred ticket quota a month. Tourists and hunters always get hammered with that stuff.

"Which house is hers?"

I pointed to a one story with painted white brick veneer. "That one. Give me a few minutes… well, you can listen in from here I guess."

Hopping the chain-link fence was easy enough. Sometimes I really like that I'm not a total klutz anymore. I worked my way around the house to the back where I knew from previous outings was Jessica's room, and then tapped on the window.

My phone vibrated in mid tap.

"She's over here," Alice said sounding thoroughly annoyed.

"It's almost five in the morning!"

"Tell me about it. Somehow she found out that vampires don't sleep and now she's insisting even more, because, and I quote, 'Are you kidding me? No more bed hair! Bite me, Edward! Now!'"

I shuddered.

"And if I hear her say that she'll be his _snuggle bunny forever_ one more time. I swear I'm eating her myself."

"On my way."

When I hopped into the car, Jasper had already had it turned around and we sped off.

~O~

"But Edward! We can be snuggle bunnies forever!" I heard as I walked through the front door.

Alice screamed before lunging at my former classmate. Emmett caught her just in time and threw her over his shoulder while she kicked and yelled. "Let me down, Emmett. She wants someone to bite her. I'll bite her!"

Carlisle was rubbing at his temples when a relieved smile crossed his face. "Bella, thank the lord you're here."

"Bella's here?" Jessica was sitting on the love seat half on and half off Edward who had a very blank look on his face like he was frozen in place while his mind was on vacation.

"Jess, can I talk to you in private?"

She grinned up at me happily. "Vampires have excellent hearing, and I don't want to be too far away from my snuggle bunny."

"Emmett!" Alice yelled again. "Just one bite. I'll make sure it's really deep and…"

"No."

Even Esme was looking somewhat frazzled. Believe me; it takes a lot to even make one hair look out of place on that woman.

Instead of wasting any more effort in being civil, I grabbed Jessica and jerked her up off of Edward – he so owes me one for this. We made it outside and down the steps before I couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Have you gone completely insane?"

Jessica straightened out her cleavage exposing blouse and ran a finger along her hair to get it out of her face. "They're vampires, Bella. Real vampires. I never really understood how they could be so beautiful and popular without doing anything. Now I know and I want some of that. Can you blame me?"

Okay, I could see her point of view, purely from an egotistical standpoint. Jessica was vain. Anyone that knew her could come to that conclusion within ten minutes of their first conversation.

"Do you know what you're asking of them?"

She crossed her arm and pouted for all of half a second. "I'm just asking for a bite. One bite. Embry says that's all it takes."

I raised my eyebrows. "One bite; that's right. And then you get to feel like you're being stuck in an oven at Ruth Chris' for three days at six hundred degrees. That's what their venom does, Jess. It seeps all over your body and transforms every single cell into something completely different. That is if they can actually bite you without draining you first."

"What? Embry didn't say anything about that."

"I'm going to kick his ass," I said in frustration. "The Cullens are good vampires and there aren't a whole heck of a lot of those around. They drink the blood of animals, so their control isn't exactly the best when exposed to human blood, alright? Didn't you ever wonder why they disappeared on blood typing day? They didn't want to go on a feeding rampage and kill every student at Forks High."

"Oh."

"Right, so you can see why they might have a problem just biting random people. Most of them couldn't hold back from draining you dry. And here you are offering them an all you can eat buffet at the Stanley house."

"Eww."

"And do you really want to never be able to walk out in the sun again in front of everyone? I know how much you like the beach and the tanning salon."

"Well… I could give it up. I mean Rosalie is seriously hot. I could give up the sun if I could be seriously hot."

She was really trying my sense of logic. "What's the point of being hot if you couldn't have sex with any human boys anymore?"

"I'm sorry… what?"

Ah-ha! I'd finally hit a point that was close to her heart.

"The whole first year of a new vampire's life surrounds a few things. Your drinking as much blood as you can… all that hot salty, coppery blood gushing into your mouth, dripping down your chin, and filling your stomach."

Her face started going a little green.

"And then you have to worry about crushing everything you touch because you're so strong. There wouldn't be any makeup, because you couldn't hold onto the applicators without snapping them. Then there are the clothes. Forget dressing yourself. You'll rip it all to shreds. A whole year wearing things like jogging pants and yoga pants."

Jessica's face went completely white. Maybe I was overplaying my role here.

"But that's okay. After a year of slumming you finally have control of your strength and you go and get yourself your first human boyfriend. You couldn't actually have sex with him because you'd pop his hips like an overripe watermelon, not to mention ripping certain parts of his anatomy off because you gripped it too tight, if you get my meaning."

Her lips pressed together. "But… I could… Edward…"

"Please. Edward is not going to have sex with you unless he was married. Believe me, I tried. I thought you told me that you'd never get yourself tied down?"

"Aren't there any other boy vampires?"

"Not around here, and if there were they'd be the human drinking kind." I could finally see I was starting to get some self-doubt out of her. "Look, sit on this for a month or so. Really think about if you want this. I've only scratched the surface of what could happen. Talk to Edward…"

I heard a stifled scream come out of the house, but it was too high-pitched for Jessica to hear.

"Don't force yourself on him. Talk to him calmly about what it's like. If after that you still want to go through with it then I'll see what I can do about talking them into biting you."

She blinked at me with a small amount of hope in her eyes. "You'd do that? Even after Edward rejected you?"

I shook my head, seriously wondering if I heard her right. "I'm sorry, what was that last part?"

"Whoops, I wasn't supposed to say anything about that. I promised Edward. You didn't have to make that stuff up at the grocery. I would have completely understood. I mean Edward is like… you know, a god and you're…"

My eyes narrowed as I looked back at the house and saw my erstwhile boyfriend looking out of one of the top floor windows at me in horror.

"You know what, Jess? Let's go talk to him right now."

~O~

Jasper stood next to me as I sat on his bed which had been newly relocated to another room. No, I still don't know exactly how many rooms are in this house. Apparently, Alice got custody of their large walk-in closet when they officially broke up weeks ago.

"I can't believe you did that."

Looking up I gave him a grim smile. "After that crack about him being the one that dumped _me_? Edward deserved it."

"True, but wouldn't having to date Jessica Stanley for the next month be considered cruel and unusual punishment?"

"She's not that bad. While having the ego the size of Rhode Island and her probably being diagnosed a narcissist by any psychiatrist worth his fee, Jessica was always there for me when I needed her… even if she was in her own little world at the time."

Jasper sat down next to me and pulled my hair aside, coincidentally at the place where he bit me, I'm sure, and lightly stroked my first permanent scar that was left behind. My shoulders were already an erogenous zone for me, so you can imagine what having a tender spot added increased the sensations he was creating.

"If you think I'm having sex with you while half the family is downstairs listening…"

Emmett barked out a laugh.

"You know that you'll hear them at some point in the future."

"Ugh." The thought of listening to vampire grunting that had nothing to do with my pizza man disturbed me.

"Doesn't mean that I'm the one that's breaking the metaphorical ice."

"We could go out to the forest and…"

"I need to go to La Push." I could feel the tension in the air ramp up without another word spoken. "I need to talk to Sam or Jake about Embry and see what's being done."

"Carlisle can do that. He's the family leader."

I nodded in agreement. "True, but I can do it without destroying the peace between you guys. I like that we were able to work together against Victoria. We shouldn't screw things up now. I'm sure Sam is mortified that one of his own let loose the secret to a gossip like Jessica."

"True," Jasper said with resignation.

I knew none of the Cullens liked me to enter wolf territory alone just like the wolves didn't like that I hung around the Cullens. Actually, I was impressed with my pizza man's restraint in ordering me not to go. Point to him.

"I'll call you when I'm on my way back."

"Here, take my truck," he said as he tossed me his keys.

"Thanks."


	6. Got Something For Daddy?

AN: Disclaimer in first chapter. Thanks ahead of time for any reviews or comments you might leave. They are greatly appreciated.

**Chapter 6**

Nobody was home at Sam's place so I headed to Billy Black's house, and guess who was standing outside by Jake's garage/shed?

The wolf-whistles—no pun intended—rained down on me in the early morning light. I had no idea how I'd forgotten that I was still wearing the leather pants and heels from the casino. It was like I was some hoochy girl that just walked on a construction site. Apparently the Quileute wolves were a horny bunch. Jake's eyes just about popped out of his skull.

"Bella!"

"Hey Jake. Just a second. I need to talk to Embry for a moment."

That brought on more whistles, so I took advantage of the distraction and swung my hips a little more than normal. Seduction just wasn't my forte, but I knew swinging hips meant sex in any male's mind.

"Hey, Embry," I said sweetly.

"Hey baby. Got something for daddy?"

I smiled real big. "Have I ever!"

When he was close enough my right hand snapped out and punched Embry across the jaw making him stumble back a good three or four feet.

"How was that, Daddy? Want another?"

Most of the guys were laughing, but all I got from Embry was a growl. Jake, on the other hand was stunned.

"Bella! Your hand!"

Oh, right. They don't know. The last time I hit a wolf in the face, it was Jake and I nearly broke my wrist in the attempt. While Jake knew about my ability to heal my skin I don't really think that translated into harder bones and tougher ligaments.

"I'm fine, Jake."

"What the hell was that, Swan?" Embry said as the guys held him back.

"That was for spilling the Cullen's secret to Jessica Stanley. She's over there right now annoying the hell out of them to turn her into a vampire! And guess who has to deal with it? Me!"

"What!" Jake didn't take the news too well. "Are you shitting me, Call?"

"I… I didn't think… I mean she was drunk I didn't think thing she'd remember."

"Hold on," I said raising my hands. "You were getting her drunk and trying to get her into bed and you thought… ugh. And you guys call the Cullens animals?"

"Embry," Jake snapped. "Get over to Sam's and wait for him to get home. I suggest you tell him before I do."

All I got for my trouble was a nasty look from Embry.

"Damn, Bella. If everything I've heard about Jessica Stanley is true then half of Forks will know what's going on."

I shook my head. "I've got her calmed down enough to date Edward for the month. If anyone can talk someone out of becoming a vampire, it's him."

"Edward…," Jake looked like his birthday and Christmas had come all in one. "You mean you two aren't dating anymore?"

Holding my hand up I said, "You don't know what's been happening over the last few weeks. Where's Seth?"

"He's on patrol. You need him?"

I nodded.

"Brady. You mind going your shift a few minutes early?"

"No prob, Jake. Bella, nice right cross. See you guys later."

I tried not to watch him run into the forest, because I knew he was going to get naked and phase, neither of which I wanted to witness. I'd seen the show and it's terrifying. Sure I'd been around the guys enough times to where I was used to it, but there something intrinsically wrong about a human being shape-shifting into a wolf the size of a horse. I mean, where do all the muscle and fur and stuff go when they change back? Is it just under their skin ready to explode once more or do they have to grow it every time. Yes, I have nothing better to do than to think of these things when I'm in my bed at night… well, at least when I used to sleep.

Now I just think of how and why I got involved in all of this.

"Charlie wanted me to pass on a message to you guys."

Jake lifted up his eyebrows in question.

"Uh… he wanted to know if any of you wanted to join the Forks police."

"Really?" He seemed excited at first and then it clicked in his brain. "Why?"

I shrugged. "Well, I was tired of lying to him all the time since I'm part of the supernatural club now. He knows pretty much all about me and I had to explain how and why I'm like the way I am."

Jake's mouth dropped open at the implication. "Bella."

"Hey, I'm not part of your pack and I'm not a Cullen, so I get to make my own rules. Don't start."

"You promised."

I stopped and thought back. "No, I don't think I actually did. I figured it out mostly on my own, and then you and Paul doing your wolf thing in front of me… well."

"Sam's going to be pissed… and Dad… oh man."

"Don't worry about it. He was bound to find out sooner or later and now he knows and he can cover for you guys in town. And like I said… jobs."

"Well, there is that."

"He's paranoid about vampires."

"Who isn't?"

"Point."

"Anyway. Chalk three human drinkers up to me on your tally sheet?"

I thought Jake was going to spaz. He literally jerked and bugged his eyes out. "What?"

"Three of the Volturi guard decided they'd come by and see if I was red-eyed and sparkly the other day. Needless to say they weren't too happy when I wasn't. I took them down and Jasper was nice enough to burn them for me."

"Hold on." He held up his hand. "Are you telling me that you, Bella Swan, someone who doesn't have any fighting experience whatsoever, took down three leeches by yourself?"

Okay, now he was being insulting. "Do I have to kick your ass?"

Jake blinked. "You said ass. You never cuss. I mean the worst I've ever heard you say was holy crow, which is kind of embarrassing when I think about it."

"Jasper's been a bad influence on me. There's something about their venom. When it gets into your system it carries some of their traits alongside."

"Uh-huh," he said dubiously. "I don't think I've ever heard him cuss much."

"He's had a century and a half to control his more aggressive side; I've had a few weeks. Bite me."

"Bella!" Seth yelled from the forest as he emerged wearing the traditional pack garb, shorts and nothing else.

Okay, what's the deal? Vampires don't wear undies and I know the wolves don't wear undies. Is this a supernatural thing? If elves were to pop up in the forest tomorrow would they be going commando? And no, I like my panties just where they are.

"Hey, Seth!"

He ran up and I gave him a hug.

"How have you been doing? All healed up and awake and everything."

"Yeah. I just wanted to thank you for saving my life."

Seth puffed up all proud. "Just part of the werewolf service, ma'am. Destroy vengeful vampires, save the girl, party on the rez all night."

"Smear your blood on said girl and help create a whole supernatural species," I said in continuation.

"Yeah!" His eyes widened in excitement. "I saw Jake's memories of you stabbing him. Can I see them?"

_Snikt! _

"Whoa. Awesome!"

"Yeah, they came in handy."

"Bella bagged three leeches already." Jake said with a hand on my shoulder.

"No shit?"

"Seth, dude, ixnay on the itshay. Your mom is getting on my butt about your language."

He rolled his eyes. "That's all because of Leah. I never cuss in front of her."

~O~

When Seth left to eat something and get some sleep, Jake led me to the shed and started working on something underneath the hood of the Rabbit.

"So what's been going on?"

I shrug and dust off the car seat on the ground that was serving as a chair before dropping down on top.

"Training mostly. Jasper has a friend that is showing me how to defend myself. Good thing too, otherwise I might not be here."

"Yeah, what's up with that? Three leeches?"

"Volturi. The same ones that dropped by after the battle last month. They came to check if I was changed yet. When I wasn't they attacked."

Jake paused in his tinkering and looked at me. I could see his jaw set and heard his teeth grinding, but he held it together without calling my ability to defend myself in question. Point to him.

"So…," he said still trying to keep his anger down. "Should we expect more in the future?"

"Good question. I have no idea. I sort of called the head vampire and talked smack to him for a while. Alice says she saw him in hiding afterward."

He blinked and stood up looking at me strangely. "You scared the head vampire? Like the head of all vampires?"

"Well, he's one of three heads really. The politician of the three. He's kind of an asshole slash bully. I just stood up to him and I may have exaggerated my fighting ability a little."

"A little?"

"Okay, a lot, but what I told him about the fight I had with supposedly his best fighter was totally true. I had him in pieces in under four seconds… totally. Maybe five."

"Uh-huh."

"For real!"

He backed away raising his hands. "Hey, you said you did it then I believe you. Remember, I've been stabbed by those claws yours. If anyone can believe it then it's me."

That sent a wave of guilt through me which made me grimace before I tried to move the subject along. "Anyway, we don't know what's happening with them until Aro decides what he wants to do. Everyone wants to get together and do some epic battle in some clearing in the forest."

"Lame," he said as he pulled something really dirty out from underneath the hood. "We've already done that."

"I know, right!"

"Well, when you know something give me a call."

Jake's voice sounded a bit off, stronger than normal if I had to take a guess. "You? Not Sam?"

He looked up at me and then sighed. "Emily's pregnant. Sam's stepping down next month to spend more time with her. Plus, he has to find a job to support the sprog. Oh… I'll tell him about your dad's offer."

"So…" It didn't take a neurosurgeon to figure out who was next in line for the Alpha position.

"I'll be Alpha."

"You don't sound too enthused."

He shrugged and wiped the dirty thing off with an equally dirty rag. "Well, there are perks. My first order of business will be to Alpha-order Paul to kiss my ass."

"Kinky."

"I'll send you pictures."

A comfortable silence moved in for all of three minutes while he installed the newly not-so-dirty part back into place.

"So… Cullen."

I was waiting for him to bring the subject back into play. It wasn't like I was avoiding it. While I don't like hurting Jake, sometimes it's unavoidable.

"You know how the wolves imprint?"

His brows furrowed. "Uh, yeah."

"Well vampires have something similar. It's not like you guys with gravity shifting and all, but it's there all the same."

"Cullen found someone else?"

My thoughts immediately went to Jessica Stanley and a creepy shiver ran down my spine. "Uh, no. Jasper did actually."

A loud clang of a dropped crescent wrench sounded as it made its way through the engine compartment to the dirt floor underneath. "No… you can be serious."

"It happened after I changed... well, during the change actually, but…"

"Bella? What the hell? You finally get free and then jump on the closest available…" His lips sealed themselves as Jake's face reddened up in anger.

I guess there were limits as to what kind of news he could handle. At least he didn't come straight out and call me a vampire-whore or anything.

"I've seen the proof myself, Jake, so don't think this came up randomly and I just jumped into the sack with him. His ex-girlfriend is my best girlfriend. You can imagine what I thought when even she told me that it was all true."

Jake closed his eyes and leaned his head to the side. I heard a tension filled crack of vertebrae, before he breathed out slowly. "We should talk about this later. Give me time to cool down."

I stood up, really impressed with his newfound anger control issues. "Give me a call whenever, Jake, and for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

~O~

The next week was filled with virtual nonstop training again with spots of Jasper and I actually getting to know one another. Very short spots. Charlotte is a bitch of a taskmaster and doesn't let me learn anything new until I've got whatever lesson she's teaching me down pat. Her philosophy is it's better to master a handful of useful moves than have a bunch of mediocre ways and getting my butt handed to me.

It was when I was on my way home after a twenty hour stint of learning how to break a choke hold without getting my head ripped off – which was a favorite way most vampires kill their opponents – that something out of the ordinary happened. The moon that night was hidden at times in the constant cloud cover that Forks is known for. There was a fine mist in the air that had me switching on the wipers every ten seconds to smear across the windshield. That's what I was in the middle of doing when something rammed into the side of my truck.

The back tires slid across the pavement and I don't know if I hit something else or I was hit again, but the truck flipped and rolled off the road and into the forest, abruptly coming to a stop against a number of trees.

My ears were ringing at the sound of twisted metal and my nose was bleeding. A second later it stopped and I felt it straighten out. That gave me all of a few seconds to figure out what happened before the door was ripped off its hinges. I heard the sound of it whirling off into the air and figured I was again under attack. I guessed Aro got tired of waiting for me.

Hanging upside down, I was at a distinct disadvantage, but before I had a chance to reach down… up? for the release, a pale hand extended into the cab. It was attached to a raggedy coat sleeve that I didn't recognize and didn't want to personally get to know.

_Snikt!_

Raking my claws across the forearm I separated it from its owner and heard a panicked scream. That gave me just enough time to release my seat belt and roll out of the cab of the truck. Scrambling up to my feet, I felt blood drip down the side of my face, but I was too distracted by the four vampires in front of me to wipe it away. One of which was cradling his stump of an arm.

_Snikt!_

"That was my favorite truck," I growled. "Who gets to die first?"

I thought it best to lead off with intimidation since I was still outnumbered.

"He didn't say anything about claws that can cut through us! What the hell, Alistair?" said the female with short red hair.

Alistair, I'm guessing shifted backward. "Well, that explains how she killed Felix."

"Felix? Fuck this I'm outta here."

Before she had a chance to move two feet a dark colored wolf exploded out of the forest and ripped off her head in one leap. I didn't bother to wait before darting forward toward the leader. Two more wolves followed.

Alistair had his hands up in a defensive pose. "I'm not your enemy."

"You broke my truck, so I'm calling bullshit."

He ducked out of the way from my first swipe and countered with a fist to my midsection which just pissed me off. Having Charlotte do nothing but that for a few hours during training, I was kind of used to it. The jerk was fast, I gave him that much. I missed with the next two swipes as well. The good thing was I had him on the defensive. Well, that was until someone got the idea in their head to try to take mine from behind. I swear you can't count on your friendly neighborhood wolf pack to watch your back.

The second I saw a pale arm go for a headlock, I dropped to my butt and stabbed upward with my claws. There was a really high pitched squeal that went higher the longer my claws were embedded in his crotch. Then I felt a jerking from my foot, which Alistair had grabbed a hold of to jerk me away.

_Snikt!_

"Gah! Bloody hell!"

Several of his fingers fell off his hand as I twisted and drove my other foot claw into his midsection, dragging it as deep and to the side as I could before he finally couldn't take it any longer.

"RAAAAWWWWWRR!" Came a sound from the road behind us and then Alistair lost his head a half second later.

The screaming vampire behind me was still clutching at his skewered vampire testicles when he lost his from Emmett violently twisting it off like a pop bottle.

"Bella!" Jasper yelled as he slid in to my side with Alistair's head still in his clutches.

"I'm fine."

It was useless to tell him that when he saw the blood coating the side of my face. He dropped the bad guy's head and started combing his fingers through my hair looking for a wound.

"I slammed my head against the steering wheel. It's healed, I'm fine."

His wide eyes categorized the rest of my body and then they turned harder than any substance known to human or vampire-kind when he turned them on what remained of the vampire that attacked me.

"Alistair. Working for the Volturi now." He picked his head up by the hair and looked it in the eyes. "Bella's my mate. Seven hundred years down the toilet. I thought you knew better."

"Wait," I said. "He was the leader. We need to know what he knows."

It was creepy enough to see the eyes move back and forth between us, but when the mouth started opening of its own accord my stomach heaved. I turned around and came a hair's breadth of losing the steak and potato dinner Esme made me before I left the house. Barely holding it in I watched as Sam, Paul, and Seth were still ripping apart the other three.

"Thanks guys."

Seth barked at me and went back to dragging a torso off the road. Thank god it was still deep in the night. Dawn was another three hours off. Turning back to the truck I groaned at the massive pile of metal. The back end looked like it was barely hanging on and the cab was… in fairly good shape considering it was upside down. It might still be salvageable.

"I'll get my jeep down and see if I can tow it back to the house."

"Thank Emmett, and thanks for coming to save my butt."

"No prob, little sister."

In a blur of speed he was gone and Jasper was hauling Alistair's remains. Grimacing, I bent over and picked up three fingers to stuff in one of the jacket pockets.

"I'm so glad vampires don't bleed like humans."

"Are you okay, Bella?"

Looking up at my pizza man I gave him a thin lipped smile. "Yeah, go ahead. I'm sure one of these guys will stick around until Emmett gets back. I really don't feel like jogging right now."

Seth barked again and loped over to stand by me. I was getting to the point where I could always rely on him.


End file.
